Mendol: A Man's World
by Nakao Inugami
Summary: A twist on the original Mendol Ikemen Idol premise. Instead of being cross-dressers, Nami, Asahi and Hinata are transformed into actual men. Their only chance at getting back their normal lives lies with their manager, the Inugami who transformed them.
1. Chapter 1

Alrighty, I decided to give this writing thing a shot because this idea has been bugging me for awhile. Basically kind of a Ranma 1/2 thing going on with the boys of Persona. I have a deep love of Japanese lore and i hope that eventually it will show in my writing. This fic is heavily AU though will follow the essential plot devices of the show. Anyway, aside from that I have nothing much to say except, enjoy my first Mendol fic? =)

Warning~ the first part of this chapter contains violence involving guns, blood and fairly vivid descriptions of those topics. ¨

A Man's World

Chp. 1

The schoolgirl hung her head slightly, readjusting her satchel over her shoulder as she walked through the automatic glass doors into TV Tohto's parking garage.

"… How many is that now?" The girl sighed tiredly, opening her day planner and checking off yet another failed audition. "Forty nine applications, forty nine failures… The next will be the…" She scrunched her eyebrows together and pinched the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. "Fiftieth."

"Seriously?"

She felt a hand on shoulder and turned around to see a familiar, grinning face.

Kawachi Nami.

She recognized the short young woman from the audition, they had sat next to each other. "You weren't 'that' bad during the audition." Nami proclaimed, patting Asahi on the back.

She frowned, slightly put off by how happy the woman seemed to be in the face of failure. Her failure.

"But this is great! Finally, someone even worse than I am!" She bit her lower lip and pumped her fists in the air slightly, as if thanking god for the reassurance. "And this is only my thirty-eighth time!"

"That's nothing to boast about…" Asahi grumbled, a bit annoyed at the fact that the girl seemed so relieved by her misfortune that she looked like she might cry tears of joy.

"Hinata has over a hundred times!" Came a high-spirited voice from behind them.

"SERIOUSLY?"

They both whirled around in concert, their mouths slack, but then immediately pointed at the Lolita in the blindingly pink dress; both screamed in surprise. "AHH! Denpa?"

The girl cocked her head to the side in confusion.

Nami shook her head and looked at the girl in slight exhasperation. "You release electro-magnetic waves don't you?"

Asahi caught Nami's eye and as if prompted began doing the 'Tenshi Dance' that Hinata had performed during the perfectly bombed audition. "Ten-ten-tenshi, tenshi-YO~!"

'Electric waves…?' Hinata smiled and tilted her head the opposite direction, slightly confused, but noting inwardly that the girls had did the dance perfectly.

"The two of you are in grade twelve right?" Nami asked pointedly, trying to steer the conversation back on topic. That is, about the auditions. "That's a bit late to want to be an Idol isn't it?"

Asahi gritted her teeth slightly, the words had felt like a stab to the heart. Though she was sure Kawachi-san hadn't meant to make her feel bad.

"I've heard that recently elementary school kids, no, even kindergarteners are starting to audition to become idols!" Nami put a thoughtful finger to her lip, not noticing Asahi behind her, making faces like someone was stabbing her in the back.

"Then the three of us are comrades!" Hinata proclaimed excitedly, hooking both her arms around Asahi and Nami's shoulders. "We'll audition together until we're all discovered!"

Asahi hated to admit it, but the girl's enthusiasm was infectious. "Come on, do it with me! Ten-ten-tenshi, tenshi-yo!"

Nami looked at Asahi and shrugged her shoulders, giving her a lop-sided grin. They had both been feeling down and out because of the failed audition, but were now both slightly embarrassed at how discouraged they already were in the face of Hinata's strong front in the face of infinitely more failures. A hundred to be exact.

"Ten-ten-tenshi, tenshi~yo!" The trio chanted together as they made their way out of the underground parking garage, only to be interrupted by a beep from Hinata's cell phone.

"Moshi-mosh! This is Hinata… Really? Okay!" The girl hung up on the caller and gave an apologetic look to her companions. "It seems I'm not a comrade anymore…"

Asahi and Nami both tilted their heads in confusion. "Huh?"

"The producer just called and asked me to meet him tonight!" She said, grinning ear to ear and barely able to contain her excitement. See ya!"

In a whirl of pink frills and lace, the little denpa had disappeared almost as abruptly as she came.

"That little traitor!" Nami grunted, scuffing at the ground with the toe of her shoe. Though being perfectly honest with herself, she was happy for the girl. After a hundred auditions it would be a bit callous of her not to be.

"Oh!"

Asahi's squeal of delight caught Nami's attention and she turned around to see the girl crouched on the ground with something in her hands.

"It's a purupuru!" She exclaimed excitedly, rubbing it on her cheek and smiling widely. "It's so soft!"

'… What a weirdo…' Nami thought to herself, putting a palm to her forehead. That thing was dirty, why rub it on your face of all places?

Asahi's delight however, was cut short as a car pulled up and squealed to a halt in front of them, the headlights momentarily blinding the two girls. The light dimmed as the car doors opened and three imposing men in suits got out and strode over to them. The biggest of them, a tall, broad-shouldered man in sunglasses and slicked back hair held out his hand.

"Give that to me." His deep, baritone voice held no room for compromise.

"No way!" Asahi exclaimed, clutching the toy to her chest possessively. "Finders keepers!"

Without warning the man reached into his jacket and pulled out a handgun and pointed it directly at Asahi's head.

"Please." He rumbled out coldly.

They both stood there, stock frozen. This couldn't be real could it? Asahi's instincts were screaming for her to run, but she was interrupted by Nami's voice. "Ah I know, we're on candid camera aren't we?" She said, hitting her fist in her palm as if she had figured out the answer to a math problem.

"Oh my god, you're right!" Asahi said, relaxing a bit as the fear drained from her body. Really, wasn't Japan a mostly pacifistic nation? Who owns guns except the Yakuza? And although the guy was definately dressed to kill, literally, he seemed a bit too in character. It had to be a prank!

Nami's eyes flashed with excitement. "Where do you guys keep the camera?" If they were indeed on a reality show, it was a good chance to get discovered! Asahi's thoughts seemed to mirror her own as the other girl's eyes were also casting around for a camera.

A thought suddenly entered Nami's head and she grinned, leaning forward and poking a finger into the muzzle of the gun. "It has to be in here right?" There was always that idiot that was slow on the up-tick, but never Kawachi Nami. Showing the audience how clever she was would~

The sound of gunfire tore Nami out of her thoughts and she screamed as she saw Asahi fall to the ground next to her. The girl's body was limp, and blood spatter coated her school uniform a macabre crimson. Nami gaped helplessly and whirled onto the snake-like murderer, her teeth set in a snarl as cold fear seeped into her stomach.

"You mother~!" Her sentence ended in a scream as another shot rang into the air and she felt the searing pain of hot lead tear into her chest, breaking through bone and sinew and puncturing a lung as she fell to the ground. The pain was so excruciating, she could barely breathe, and when she did, air sucked into the wound in her chest, causing blood to run down her side and bubble around the hole.

As the world began to fade to black, she could only think of one thing to say. "Wh-Why…?" She didn't know if it was directed to her and Asahi's murderer or simply to whatever power had allowed this fate to befall them. There was still so much to live for… So much left to give… And what of her family, her dreams, it all seemed so unfair. She never imagined that this would be the way she would end up making headlines...

Just as she was about to slip into unconsciousness she saw a sudden flash of black appear before her eyes accompanied by the sounds of tearing skin and the men's screams. But it all seemed so far away now… Rescue seemed to have come much, much too late.

'I'm sorry Asahi…' She thought dimly, using what was left of her strength to reach out and weakly grasp the girl's hand. 'This is my fault…'

The pain was gone, and she was floating, drifting while shadows of thoughts seemed to flicker in the dim twilight of her mind. 'Am I dead…?' She wondered to herself. 'Is this what it's like…?' But before the girl could continue her line of thought, an apparition appeared next to her. She blinked in surprise.

"Asahi?" She murmured, reaching out a hand to touch her, but coming into contact with nothing.

"Nami…" Asahi said sadly, her eyes downcast. "I should've never picked up that damn thing…"

Nami's shook her head and was about to reply when suddenly a third apparition joined them. They both gawked slightly at the sight of it; a gargantuan black dog that seemed to be approximately the size of a compact car. Its blood crimson eyes flashed in the darkness of their surroundings. Fear gripped their hearts in a vice as the beast slowly floated towards them, its black lips set in a soul chilling smirk. But fear quickly morphed into surprise as the dog demon opened its mouth, and spoke.

"Now what are you two lost little lambs doing all the way out here?" It drawled, running a thick purple tongue over its fangs. "You seem to be in quite a pickle…"

"W-who are you…?" Asahi stuttered out, trying to control her fear.

"… Your savior." The monster said simply. "You may call me Inuyama, should our paths ever cross again… Just know that it is I, through the…" He grinned almost maliciously, causing Nami to shudder. "Goodness of my heart, who have saved you from a fate most unbecoming of two such beautiful young ladies…"

"T-thank you…" They both said in concert, still a bit unsure if being saved by such a beast was a better fate than the sweet release of death.

"But enough chit-chat…" The beast brought a paw to bear in front of his face and examined his great claws. "It's time for you to-"

"Wake up… N-Nami… Wake up…"

Nami groaned and rolled over, coughing slightly as she brought herself up to all fours. She cracked open her eyes, the world slowly starting to coalesce into a clear image. Breathing slowly, she brought her vision to focus on the person in front of her. The face seemed familiar… But the voice was deep and foreign to her.

"Who… Who are…" She groaned, clutching her head as sudden visions of what befell her and Asahi came crashing down like the waves of the ocean on her mind. She reflexively clutched at her chest, looking for a wound but finding nothing. 'Nothing… But why am I so damn uncomfortable…?' Her clothes suddenly felt very restricting, like they were so tight that they might tear off of her.

"It's me, Asahi." The person in front of her sighed, seeming relieved that Nami was okay.

"We're alive…" Nami breathed, her discomfort forgotten as she threw her arms around Asahi's broad shoulders. 'Wait… Did Asahi have broad shoulders before…?' Nami suddenly pulled away, still holding onto the girl as she took in her appearance. "Oh my god…"

Asahi's long raven hair framed a young, handsome face with low set brows, a roman nose and a strong, refined jaw line. Her eyes were wide with an odd mix of fear, confusion and relief. "Nami…. You… you're…"

"I…" Realization slowly dawned on Nami as she patted down her chest. Two very feminine appendages were missing, and it was at that point that she realized that her voice had fallen an octave or two lower. "It can't be…"

With that she shot to her feet and ran to a nearby car, looking at her refection in the dark tinted windows. What she saw chilled her to the bone and she swallowed, feeling the deeply disconcerting movement of her clearly visible adam's apple moving up and down. It was a boy that stared back at her, a wiry boy with girlishly long hair and a handsome yet sharp and angular face that still held a hint of boyish softness. She turned to look at the now much taller Asahi, who had gotten to her feet to stare at the other girl, shock apparent in her eyes. How was this possible…?

"We're…" Asahi and Nami breathed in concert.

"GUYS!" They both screamed in conjunction and ran towards each other, hugging each other as tears fell like rivers from both their eyes.

"How did this h-happen?" Asahi squeaked, her baritone voice catching in her throat as Nami buried her face in the other girl's now flat chest. "I don't know…!" But then a thought occurred to both of them and they looked at each other, realization in their eyes.

"Inuyama!" They shouted.

The demon must have saved them… But they should have known it would be too good to be true. He had saved them at the cost of their womanhood. What a cruel sense of humor…

"Ew… Drag queens…" Came a slightly disturbed voice from behind them.

They turned to look at a man clutching his girlfriend protectively against him as he looked at the two hugging men in disgust. The two quickly made their way past them without another word.

Nami gulped and jumped away from Asahi, scratching the back of her, now his, head. Asahi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose while his eyes scanned the parking garage. There was still a bit of blood spatter on the ground and on their clothes as evidence of what happened… But what of the men that had shot them? He dimly remembered them getting attacked but there were no bodies. They had escaped death by Asahi and Nami's rescuer. But that meant…

"Nami we have to get out of here." Asahi said firmly, grabbing the girl-turned-boy's hand and leading him back into TV Tohto.

"What show are they from…? A drag queen horror film…?"

"Are t-they even men?"

"They must be gay… Look at how they're holding hands!"

"Eww!"

Nami's left eye twitched and he let go of Asahi's hand, a bit more mindful of their outward appearances as TV Tohto staff whispered amongst themselves as the boys passed. They looked like literal drag queens, especially Asahi in his school girl uniform. Not that Nami was any better off, especially with her now excruciatingly tight clothes tugging and chafing at a certain new appendage that he had grown. He was tempted to readjust, but was disgusted at the thought of touching 'it'. Nami shuddered inwardly.

Asahi seemed just as bothered because he quickened his steps and stopped at a door to their right. "I think this is a dressing room… We should change…" It was true. The two looked very very conspicuous and the sooner they got out of their blood drenched, bullet riddled clothes the better. Who knows if snake-man might come back and tie them to the two girls he shot? They were, after all, wearing their clothes. He might shoot them again just for being cross-dressing weirdos.

Opening the door, they both slipped inside only to be greeted with darkness, desks and upended chairs instead of a dressing room. It seemed to be a place to store extra office furniture. Asahi sighed and turned, about open the door but froze when he heard female voices at the far end of the room.

Nami lifted an eyebrow and blinked, grabbing Asahi's hand and ducking behind a grouping of desks and chairs. The last thing they needed was to be kicked out of the studio because they were someplace they weren't supposed to be. Asahi was about to protest but Nami put a finger to the boy's lips to silence him as he peeked over the desk. Asahi sighed slightly and shook his head but soon followed suit, curiosity getting the better of him.

The sight that greeted the two was of two women arguing with each other. One had jet black hair styled into an angular bob cut; the look on her face held no apology as she smirked down at the smaller woman. The other woman had long, wavy red-brown hair and was so furious that she was practically seething. Before they could even wonder what the woman was mad at her hand shot out and smacked the other woman smartly across the cheek.

"Tell me, which woman were you with yesterday?" Hurt and anger seeped into the smaller woman's voice as her eyes fell accusingly on the apparently guilty party. Instead of answering, the other woman grabbed the back of her head and brought her into a punishing, yet passionate kiss. Nami and Asahi's eyes widened to the size of saucers. Their tongues were visible as they moaned and ground against one other, the black haired woman hiking up her partner's skirt slightly. When they finally parted, mouths bruised from the punishing make-out session, the angry woman seemed like a tamed kitten.

"Are you jealous?" The black haired woman purred.

"… I-I…" The anger and vitriol seemed to have vanished from the smaller woman like so much vapor in the morning sun.

"Okay then… How about we continue on to part two…" The woman's voice was low and sultry and even Asahi blushed at the sound of it.

This time, the taller woman pushed her partner back onto a desk as she claimed the other's lips in another bruising kiss. The brown-haired woman was pushed onto it, her blazer falling over her shoulders as her partner grabbed her thigh, massaging it as she began to hike up her partner's skirt once more…

"Marilyn… You're too cute…" The black haired woman moaned as she kissed the woman's neck.

Asahi watched with dark fascination, unable to tear his eyes away. Nami meanwhile, was purely disgusted by the scene playing out before him.

"Uwaaahhhgh!" Nami shot up quickly, too quickly, losing his balance and hitting the small of his back against some chairs behind him, knocking them over noisily. The two women immediately caught sight of the two cross-dressers and blinked at them. They had thought they were alone.

"Um…" Asahi got up, suddenly too aware of his girly attire as the women looked at him strangely. He wasn't sure how to react in this situation so he did the only thing he could think of.

He bowed as low as he could. "Uh, sorry for disturbing you, please continue!"

Grabbing the still frozen Nami's hand, they both fled the confines of the storage room. But even as they were retreating, they could hear Marilyn's voice ask a very pointed question.

"… Are they… Drag queens?"

Nami's left eye twitched. Asahi turned his eyes upwards as if to ask 'Why me?' just before he opened another door labeled 'Changing Room 2' and ushered them both inside. They found themselves standing amongst a veritable department store full of racks upon racks of clothes, footwear and various other accessories.

"I can't believe we had to sit through that L-show! Ugghh!" Nami exclaimed, grabbing the sides of his head and shaking it as if trying to get the image of what they had seen to go away.

"What's an 'L'?" Asahi asked, confusion apparent in his voice.

"Don't you know?" Nami gawked at him like he had grown another head. He couldn't believe had to enlighten him about one of the most disgusting and apparent evils of the world. "In the world of L… Girls kissing and… M-making love…. Disgusting!" Nami shuddered and hugged himself as if trying to protect himself from the world of L.

"This isn't the time to worry about that…" Asahi grumbled, annoyed that Nami could be distracted so easily by something like girls kissing. There were other, more pressing matters at hand. Such as why they were suddenly men, or why the snake-man and his goons had shot them, or if they were still chasing them. The police were not an option, firstly he had no reception with his cell phone and secondly who would believe them if they said they were actually girls? A drag queen isn't exactly the most credible witness. What could he do? He sighed, leaning against a rack of costumes, once again rubbing the bridge of his nose. It was a nervous habit. But then suddenly, it dawned on him. Eureka!

He threw down his satchel and began to undress, kicking off his shoes and discarding his bloodied shirt and now useless bra. Pausing for a moment, he took in his bare torso and fought the urge not to whistle in appreciation. His body was long and lean, but filled out with refined muscle and sinew, his chest and shoulders were, in particular, very well muscled. He turned to look at Nami, who was wide eyed and blushing a very bright red. Asahi blinked and found himself blushing as well. This… Had to be the weirdest most awkward thing they had ever experienced, ever.

"Y-you have to take your clothes off too!" Asahi reached for Nami's shirt and the girl yanked herself away, horrified but also not quite able to tear his eyes away from Asahi's chiseled torso.

"What are you doing? Don't tell me you're an-"

Asahi smacked him on the back of the head. "Don't even bother finishing that sentence." Seriously, the girl needed to get over the L thing. "We're going to change out of these clothes. That was the point of coming back here!"

"Huh?" Nami looked around stupidly and realization soon dawned on his boyish face. "Oh!" He smacked his forehead for being so slow.

Silently they both stripped out of their clothing, Nami not being able to bring himself to even look at his new body as they picked out their outfits. They decided to go as a matching pair. Hiding their hair under loose black beanies and putting on loose boot cut jeans, v-neck t-shirts, aviator sunglasses, boots, faux-leather jackets and silver accessories. Doing a once over for each other, they nodded as they headed out the door.

TBC Soon.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's Notes~ To be honest, I'm still working out the essential premise of this story, and any and all inputs, requests, advice, and comments would be welcome. =) Enjoy. This is taking a lot longer to write than I thought. ¨

Mendol- A Man's World

Chp 1 Pt 2.

Asahi slowly opened the door, pushing his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose as he looked furtively around the corner. When it seemed that the coast was clear he took Nami by the forearm and pulled him out into the hallway. Now all they needed to do was look like they belonged here and then exit the building to make their escape. Easy day right?

Wrong.

"Excuse me? May I ask what you're doing here?" Came a curious female voice from behind them. They both gulped audibly and turned around to face a girl in a cheer leading outfit, her short jet black hair falling in wisps around her curious face.

Asahi blinked and opened his mouth, but no words followed. It wasn't like him to be nervous, but luckily before the girl became suspicious Nami took the initiative and stepped forward, reaching out and placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, giving his most charming (patently fake) smile.

"We actually got separated from our group and got lost... Maybe you could, uh, point us in the right direction?" Nami asked, blinking slightly as he witnessed the girl's face flush a deep shade of red as she looked at the hand on her shoulder and then quickly averted her eyes to the floor not seeming to be able to look him in the eye.

"Well um... Uh..."

'Why is she stuttering? Doesn't she work here? This shouldn't be that hard of a question...' Nami thought to himself, raising an eyebrow at the girl as she flustered before him. "Ma'am?"

Asahi, not quite as dense as his cohort, bit his lip in thought as he mulled over how to possibly exploit their current circumstance. 'I recognize that look anywhere... She thinks Nami's cute!' He flushed a little at that, a bit embarrassed for his L-phobic friend. This situation was becoming more awkward by the second. 'Maybe we could-"

The sound of heavy footsteps caught his attention and before he could think any further, some horrifyingly familiar figures rounded the corner, bloodied and bruised but looking angrier than all hell.

"Where the hell could they be...?" The snake-like leader muttered, leering at one of his lackeys and wiping some bloody spittle from the corner of his lip. "And where the fuck did that dog come from?"

Nami gaped at the troupe approaching them and without thinking pushed the girl into the wall and hid his face in her neck. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers and she attempted to protest but found that the shock of the situation had robbed her of the ability to speak. Asahi did the only thing he could think of and quickly leaned against the wall, bracing himself with his forearm above the girl's head; he gave her an awkward, lop-sided smile.

"Uh... Do you know how much a polar bear weighs?" He asked lamely, trying to remember how boys generally hit on girls as he eyed the men in his peripheral vision. 'God I hope she doesn't scream...' The girl flushed as red as a tomato at that and closed her eyes tightly, her heart beating a mile a minute in response the man's suave and easy demeanor.

"Uh... Um..." She flustered a bit, trying to think of an answer though still a bit sell-shocked at how close the two model-like men had come to her. "1,000 lbs...?"

He managed a nervous chuckle at that, but Nami beat him to the punch line, the boy's nervousness at the sight of his would be murderers causing him to blurt out the answer.

"Enough to break the ice!" He flushed deeply at how cheesy the line was but at this point he just needed to get through this ridiculous situation without dying a second time. Though, apparently the girl found it cute because she giggled a little at that even through her own embarrassment.

The snake-like man paused and looked at the them for a moment before shaking his head in disgust, stalking off and muttering something about the lack of decency in today's youths.

'So says the man who just gunned down two innocent girls in cold blood...' Asahi thought bitterly, cold seeping into his stomach as he remembered just how close to death he had been.

Nami breathed a sigh of relief, the girl squealing slightly at the feel of his breath on her neck. "Gentlemen... Please... Personal space... Personal space..." She said those two words like a chant and Nami blinked as he leaned away from her.

"Uh..." Their close proximity suddenly dawned on Nami and he jumped back like he had been burned, looking at her like a deer caught in the headlights. "Uwwaahhh! I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry!" The girl blinked and was about to open her mouth when suddenly another man appeared and clapped his hands on both boys' shoulders.

"Hey, you guys are late for the screening! Come on we're on in two!" He exclaimed, pulling the two away from the girl and dragging them down the hall into a room that housed a studio.

They didn't see the victimized cheerleader slide to the floor as her knees finally gave out on her.

Asahi and Nami both shielded their eyes from the blinding studio lights as they found themselves being pushed forward by a group of men dressed almost exactly as they were. They stopped in a screening area in front of a grouping of cameras.

"Wa-wait we're-" Asahi stuttered out but was quickly cut off by the director's booming voice crackling over a megaphone.

"Let's GO! Standby!" The director called out as the music began to play and the dancers began their pre-rehearsed choreography. The two men stood by and watched the dancers perform the simple, repetitive dance moves, both trying to figure out the best time to bolt out of the studio. Asahi was slightly embarrassed, feeling rude and completely out of place at the male audition, but embarrassment was quickly flushed away by adrenaline as he caught sight of their snake-like pursuers skulking about behind the director.

"Dance!" He yanked Nami toward the middle of the troupe of men. Nami blinked and stared at him like he had grown another head.

"They're here! Here!" Asahi hissed as they slid to a stop. Nami gulped and bit his lip as they both fell into step with the beat, the simple choreography coming to them like second nature as their fear guided the need for perfection. However, if being inconspicuous was the name of the game, they both failed utterly because their efforts quickly came to the attention of the director and his guest.

"Wa-wait... who are those guys, were they there before?" The director wondered, giving an appreciative smile. "They're really good!"

The woman, dressed in all black with the angular bob hair cut quirked a smile at the two, her eyes shining with a certain amusement. However, the dance routine was ruined as the three men in suits crossed in front of the rolling cameras, ignoring the yelling and shouts of all-around discontent among the film crew and dancers. At that, the director promptly freaked and ran after the men, stopping in the middle of the sound stage and tramping his feet in a show of anger.

"Hey! What the HELL! Who are you guys?" He screamed at their backs, a vein popping out of the side of his forehead.

"Let's go!" Asahi grabbed Nami's hand and yanked him off the set, at which point the director noticed their departure and attempted to stop the two promising new talents.

"Waaiiiitt!" He shouted, only to be rudely cut off by his black-clad guest shoving him to the side as she ran after the boys. Nami and Asahi slowed down as they came into an empty sound stage, breathing heavily as relief washed over them when they realized that they were no longer being followed.

"Thank go-" Nami grinned but quickly panicked when a voice called to them from the shadows.

"Excuse me..." The snake-like gangster approached them purposefully, his hands in his pockets. "Have you seen two highschool age girls around here?"

Nami and Asahi stood stock still, frozen with fear. Although they could rationalize that the man could never recognize them, given their current condition, what would anyone be able to do in the face of their own murderer. Their fear would prove to be their end if they didn't do something, but for some reason, no matter how hard they willed themselves to, words just wouldn't form.

"I've seen them!" Came a cheerful voice from behind, and they all turned to see the black haired woman looking at them from behind one of the open sliding sound proof doors. Nami and Asahi immediately recognized the woman from the incident in the storage room.

"L!" Nami exclaimed, his voiced quickly muffled by Asahi clamping a hand over the boy's mouth. He hoped to god that the woman wouldn't say anything to set off the men's suspicions. They were dangerous, and at this point they could all very well be gunned down once again. His eyes were pleading as he looked at the woman through his dark sunglasses.

The L woman gave an impish smile and pranced over to them, her expression making the two girls-turned-boys shudder inwardly.

"They went that way," Her statement ushered in waves of relief for Nami and Asahi as the snake-like man gave the woman a curt nod and thanked her as he directed his men past them without so much as a cursory glance at the two boys.

"We're saved..." Nami breathed out, clutching his chest and shaking his head. Asahi nodded in agreement, a relieved smile etched across his face. But just before they were about to thank their savior she walked up to them and immediately pulled off their headgear and sunglasses, revealing their girlishly long hair and handsome features.

"As I thought..." She said to herself, grinning slightly. "It seems you both have found your way back to me... I have to admit that I think I've outdone myself this time."

Asahi and Nami looked at eachother in confusion. Had they met this woman before? "Ano... Have we... Met before?" Asahi ventured, trying to catch the woman's eye.

The woman grinned, her upper lip curling over an inhumanly sharp fang. "It seems I've saved you both twice now... That's quite a bit of debt you 'boys' have accumulated with me." She drawled out, seeming infinitely amused as realization dawned on the boys' faces. Their eyes went wide.

"I... Inuyama..." Nami was the first to speak as the black haired woman smiled and stepped forward, placing a hand on both their shoulders.

"How would you two like to be idols?" It wasn't a question, and both boys seemed to realize that as they gazed at the sadistic grin twisting the woman's mouth.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Notes~ This story is actually pretty fun to write, I think that the next part of this episode will be exceptionally so. Here's to tomorrow night! Remember, inputs, comments, advice, requests, please give them, I appreciate them. This is, after all, my first AKB48/Mendol affiliated fanfic. Enjoy. ¨

Mendol - A Man's World

Chp. 1 pt 3

It wasn't fair... It just wasn't fair.

It was as if Fate herself was playing a cruel joke on the girl. In the span of a day, she had been shot, killed, resurrected into the body of a man by a crazed Inu-youkai, hunted down mercilessly by her would be murderers in the studio and narrowly escaped death at their hands once more at the mercy of said crazed Inu-Youkai. But the icing on this disaster of a day was one simple, glaring fact that stared back at the newly transformed boy as he took in his new appearance in the full-length mirror...

"I can't believe... Even as a man... I've only grown five inches..." Nami said flatly, biting his lower lip and fighting the urge not to sniffle as Asahi sidled up next to him to take a gander at his own reflection as he buttoned up the top of his dress shirt. An amused smile tugged at the corner of the man's lips as he fought the urge not to laugh at their stark contrast in height.

"It's... Not that bad... You're taller than before right?" Asahi said, a hint of a chuckle making itself known at the tail end of the sentence. Nami whirled on him and looked up at the man with a glare and a pout, crossing both his arms. Asahi closed his hand into a fist and brought it to his lips in an attempt to stifle a laugh as he looked down at the thoroughly irate 5'5 boy.

"So says the girl who 'was' already 5'7 and is now an even 6'0... Gaahhh! It's not fair!" Nami seethed, glaring up at Asahi who simply laughed in earnest further arousing the boy's ire. Nami growled and jumped up, grabbing Asahi's collar and bringing the man down to eye-level.

"It's not funny!" Nami exclaimed, glaring at his friend and looking much like an indignant puppy with its little hackles raised. He was just so cute! Asahi burst out laughing even harder and Nami blinked and blew out an exasperated puff of air as he released his hold on the man and pushed him away.

"What's the matter 'chibiko'?" Asahi giggled out as Nami scowled at his use of the accursed word, but instead of trying to get back at the taller man, the boy simply chose to ignore him. "Aw, I'm sorry, don't be butt-hurt Nami..."

"Tch... Jerk." Nami grumbled, once again going back to the mirror, ignoring the still-giggling Asahi. He looked ridiculous anyway, a big handsome lug like that giggling like a school girl who heard the word 'penis'. Sighing, he turned to his reflection in the mirror, for the first time 'really' looking at himself.

"... Chibiko huh...?" He asked to no one in particular as he threw a button up shirt over his shoulders. Even by his own stringent standards though, he had to admit that the short boy that stared back at him was good looking. Raven wisps of hair fell over a handsome boyish face that was smooth, and almost pretty with high arched eyebrows that sat proudly above flashing dark-brown eyes framed by long, curling eyelashes. In this form, his skin was a tad darker, but with barely a hint of facial hair. His eyes traveled downwards and he noted that his body, although short, was well-built; all lean muscle stretched over a well proportioned frame that drew attention away from his stature.

Finishing up the last button of his shirt, he glanced over at Asahi and tilted his head in curiosity at the man as he fumbled with the zipper of his slacks, trying to avoid touching a certain very male part of his body at all costs and blushing as he flustered over the task. Asahi, as a man, was handsome, strikingly handsome, the picture of a gentleman in his prime. Tall, dark, debonair, with a body that seemed like it had come straight off the catwalk to boot. Even his slightly larger than normal ears seemed almost endearing poking out of his pulled back ebony hair. It just wasn't fair...

Sighing, Nami put on a pair of slip on light grey loafers to match with his dark grey tweed slacks as he finished the last button on his shirt.

"C'mon Asahi... Destiny awaits," He said with an edge of dry humor as Asahi finally finished pulling up his zipper with a sigh of abject relief. Apparently the offending body part had been left untouched.

"Shall we?" Asahi grinned, trying to quash his nervousness as he followed Nami out of the small dressing room and down the spiral steps to the living area of the well-furnished apartment. What greeted them was Marilyn and-

'Shachou' They both growled out mentally.

The demon Inuyama had come to like to be called by this title in his human form. Marilyn stood next to her while she sat on the couch in front of a coffee table with several, very important looking documents laid out before them.

Nami grit his teeth at the sight and fought the urge to snarl at the so-called 'savior' who had imprisoned them in these accursed male bodies. Instead, the boy stalked over to the couch across from the two, refusing to sit and simply glaring down at them coldly. Asahi took his place beside Nami and also chose not to take his seat, though instead of glaring at them, opted to look down at Shachou and Marilyn expectantly. If Inuyama was indeed the key to regaining their womanhood, it would behoove them not to anger the Inu-Youkai.

"Ah good, it seems our handsome idols have finally finished powdering their noses," Saeko said, her voice tinged with dark amusement as she met Nami's flashing, angry eyes with her own cold ones. "Now to get down to business... Please take your seats gentlemen."

It wasn't a request.

Nami's brows furrowed even deeper and he was about to protest when he suddenly felt himself being yanked down to the couch by Asahi. The boy stared at his friend with wide eyes full of question but Asahi simply looked ahead toward Shachou and Marilyn, his eyes once again expectant. Though inwardly wanting to throttle the L woman and her partner, Nami bit his tongue and decided to follow Asahi's lead, though at the same time continuing to challenge the black-haired woman with his eyes.

"My name is Kamonohatsu Saeko, President of Kamonohatsu Entertainment Agency... But I suppose better known to you two as..." She chuckled darkly. "Inuyama. And this, is my lovely secretary Marilyn."

Marilyn bowed politely and smiled at the two before going to the kitchen and fetching a pitcher of water and two glasses on a tray, setting it in front of the duo and then quickly taking her place back at the President's side.

"You two have been through a lot haven't you?" She cooed gently, looking at them with a gentle, polite expression that caught the two boys off guard. "Drink this and relax."

Nami looked at the water skeptically but slowly leaned over and poured himself a glass anyway. He hadn't anything to eat or drink since before the failed audition. Asahi looked at it and narrowed his eyes, deciding to forgo the drink for now as he looked up at the black-clad woman and frowned, finally voicing what was on his mind.

"Why did you save us?" He asked, poker-faced as he learned forward and regarded Shachou with discerning dark brown eyes.

A snort of derision caught in her nose; her mouth twisted into an ironic grin. "I hate to see innocent blood spilt no matter what the occasion... But would you have rather I had not have saved you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, taking note of their shocked silence before continuing. "However, I do believe I know what you two want. In fact, I could return you to your bodies right now if you like..."

Nami and Asahi both perked up at that and Shachou let out scornful bark of laughter, Marilyn throwing her a disapproving look. "Unfortunately, you would die instantly."

Shock overtook both the boys' faces but was quickly replaced with deep, radiating anger. Nami shot to his feet, furious.

"You mean we're stuck this way?" He growled, gnashing his teeth as both his hands formed into fists. Asahi touched Nami's elbow to calm the boy as he got up, also glaring slightly at the black-clad woman.

"... Is there... No way to bring us back to the way we were before?" He implored, his voice soft yet determined.

"Maybe... Maybe not," Saeko said flatly, taking Asahi's forgotten glass and pouring herself a drink of water. At that response, Nami promptly lost it.

"What the fuck do you mean you can't turn us back, why the fuck did you do this to us if there was no way to turn us back?" He shouted as he watched her sip calmly at the water, looking up at the boy with a bemused smile before she reached into her pocket and threw something small onto the table.

Asahi blinked and leaned over, picking up the small object from the coffee table. "Where... How did you get this...?" He asked while frowning deeply, feeling as if a cold stone had been dropped into the pit of his stomach.

It was the purupuru... The one that had cost both him and Nami their womanhood.

"From when I..." She chuckled darkly at this. "Saved you."

Something occurred to Nami as he remembered the Snake-like man cursing about being attacked by a dog back when they were being chased at TV Tohto. "You were... The dog?" And Marilyn knew about her partner's condition? She shot a look at the secretary, but the woman simply gave her a serene smile.

Shachou gave the boy an amused grin in response. "Inu-Youkai. You were lucky that I happened to be there... Otherwise the studio would be sending your family their condolences. For now though, they all think that you're studying art in Las Vegas via a scholarship program sponsored by TV Tohto." She said, setting down her glass to finally get to her feet and look the two boys in the eye.

"And they believed that?" Nami groaned in disbelief. Papa Kawachi was no fool, but he was also a widowed single father with five children. And though he loved Nami, trouble seemed to follow his oldest little girl like a shadow. He would definitely be glad for the break.

Asahi blinked, his mouth slightly agape. "Only if they're awfully gullible..." Which of course, fit the description of his parents to a T.

Saeko chuckled mysteriously, raising an eyebrow at the two.

"I wasn't being 'completely' truthful when I said that you could never be women again... But before we can even broach that topic, I want you both to understand that in order to fulfill a very specific objective to get you both back to normal, I need you to sign on the dotted line..." She purred, bending down and pushing the papers toward them.

"R-really?" Asahi said, hope tinging his voice as he looked at her skeptically. Truth be told his heart had leapt with joy when the president admitted at length that there was a way to return to the way they were. Without hesitation, he took the pen, sat down and signed the papers, but lifted an eyebrow as he read the contract's header.

"I hereby agree to be promoted as... A Male idol?" He blinked, looking at the president with a quizzical expression.

Nami turned up his nose, indignant. There was no way he was going to do anything for this L 'demon' woman. Saeko tilted her head at the boy and gave him a sardonic smile.

"Are you sure about that 'sonny?'" She asked teasingly, at which point Nami turned red-faced and growled, refusing to look the woman in the eye.

"Devil woman..." He grumbled, gritting his teeth in frustration.

"This was the start of my ambition!" Shachou suddenly proclaimed, startling them both as she rounded about the couch and lifted a hand in the air, the picture of confidence.

"President, you're wonderful!" Marilyn purred, prancing to Saeko's side and looking at her beloved Shachou adoringly with hands clasped to her chest.

"My ambition is to put super handsome male idols into the world," She said, her voice taking on a slightly frenzied tone as she stalked provocatively forward and waggled a finger at the boys. "And to bring the Entertainment Industry to its knees!"

Marilyn sighed happily, looking star struck as the President paused and struck a thoughtful pose, a hand on her chin as her voice morphed from almost crazed to serious. "However, no suitable men appeared that fulfilled my requirements... But then I saw you two after you had transformed, becoming even more glorious than before!"

Her excitement once again hit a high note. "It was like being shot!" She pantomimed being shot, Marilyn mimicking her, grabbing her chest and convulsing slightly.

Asahi and Nami grimaced slightly at the two.

"But why do we have to do this? I don't want to debut as a guy...As a matter of fact, I don't want to be a guy!" Nami protested, the reality of the situation not settling well with him. No way was he going to sign that stupid contract with this crazy L 'demon' woman!

"I 'did' want to make my debut as a normal idol..." Asahi added, frowning and crossing his arms over his broad chest.

"Too plain." The president said in a bored tone at which Marilyn giggled slightly, bringing a hand to her mouth.

"Plain?" The two men gaped.

"To be truthful, you two are just plain ordinary as female idols, you'll never succeed." Saeko deadpanned. "The only way you two can succeed in this industry is to become men! Men amongst men!"

Saeko pulled a drawstring and a gigantic poster unfurled from the ceiling. From their point of view, it looked like an ordinary plastic sheet with two holes cut out, but when both men poked their heads out of the holes they realized that it was a mock up of two men in suits with the faces purposely removed so that when the two looked out the hole, they looked like male idols!

"I can see it!" Saeko rushed forward, her eyes shimmering with tears of triumph. "The sparkling future! From today your names are Riku!" Saeko gestured to Asahi, then Nami. "-and Kai! And the group name with be 'Persona'!"

Marilyn gasped in excitement. "In Latin, it means 'mask'!"

Asahi blinked. "Persona?"

Nami frowned, if it was even possible even more disgruntled. "Mask?"

"Women who wear the literal masks of men! Behold my power!" She seemed unruffled by their agitation as she pranced over to a mannequin with a silver mask on and placed it on her own face. "My... Genius!"

The two boys stared at the previously intimidating Inu Youkai in disbelief as she started to hyperventilate from her excitement.

"President, hang in there!" Marilyn immediately rushed forward with a paper bag, fretting over the President as she held it over her mouth.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Nami growled, shoving the poster out of the way as he stomped over to the Ls to confront them. "Regarding this I will definately-"

"Do it!" Asahi said affimitively, rushing to Nami's side.

"Yeah! I will definately do it! -Wait, wha?" Nami looked at Asahi with disbelief etched into his expression.

"If there is any possibility to earn back my womanhood and become an idol, I will definitely do it!" Asahi repeated, desperation starting to creep into the young man's voice.

"Tch," Nami sniffed in disdain, but realized that his friend had a point... If he ever wanted to be a girl again, he needed to stick close to the deranged dog demon. Sighing, he plopped himself back on the couch and picked up a pen, scrawling out his signature on the paper; not being able to shake the feeling that he was signing a deal with the devil.

"This is actually coming along faster than I thought it would..." Saeko murmured as she exchanged a look with her secretary. Marilyn smiled widely, sighing in adoration and feeling very proud of her President. She knew that the woman would be able to do it, for Saeko, nothing was impossible. Literally.

"Well, then let me give you a tour of the house," Marilyn said cheerfully. "On the first level, as you can see, this is the Office," She gestured to the room much like a flight attendant would to the exit row of an airplane. "The kitchen, the living area, foyer..."

Nami grabbed the sides of his head and sighed as they were swept up in the woman's energy and pushed all over the apartment, finally coming to a stop in a large, brightly lit room that was tastefully decorated with burnished wooden furniture, essential electronics, a small kitchenette and two small mattresses on the floor.

Marilyn flung out her arms proudly. "This is your room, until we can figure out an answer to your 'little' problem, you will live here! We have anything that fits your basic needs in this room, please feel free to use it!"

Marilyn poked them both playfully in the forehead and happily bounced out of the room, high from her President's triumph with the boys.

"Will we be okay with the Dog Demon and her agency...?" Asahi asked bemusedly, a finger to his lips. "All of their other talents apparently quit..."

Nami growled and extended his arms upwards in exasperation. "Plus the President and the secretary are L's!" He shuddered at that, feeling shaken to the core. "And they're forcing us to debut as GUYS. Uggghh...!"

"Debuting as men huh...?" Asahi mused, mulling over the idea and finding himself not quite as bothered by it as his cohort. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the purupuru that they had both almost died over and bit his lower lip... The reality was, that no matter how hard she had tried as a woman to become an idol, it just wouldn't happen for her. Maybe she was too plain... But here a prime opportunity had just fallen into her- now his, lap to pave a way for himself into the Entertainment industry.

Nami pulled out his phone and looked at it wistfully. They had both already decided that the police just were not an option, after all, they were safer here, in disguise, where the Snake-like man and his goons wouldn't be able to find them. But he had to wonder, what was so important about that toy that the men would be willing to kill for it?

Sighing, he fell backwards and flopped heavily onto one of the mattresses, it was all too much... Too much. Maybe if he went to sleep, he would wake up once more as Kawachi Nami, safe at home, female once again and in her own bed. Flopping an arm over his face, he cast a sideways glance at Asahi, who was still standing and looking thoughtfully at that accursed toy.

"What's wrong...?" Nami asked, sleep starting soften the edge of his voice.

"Haven't you ever felt frustrated while auditioning? Between being groped and harassed by perverted old men, being told that you're trash and worthless... That you'll never succeed? I'm already eighteen... This situation, regardless of how ridiculous and impossible it is... May be my last chance to be an Idol." Asahi said softly, earning an appreciative glance from Nami.

They were comrades in their own grand battle to become bonafide idols, having both suffered and endured, hoping to one day reap the fruits of their labor. And now it seemed that opportunity had finally knocked at their doors, though had presented itself in an unexpected form. If Asahi discarded it now... Would he ever be a woman again, would he ever achieve his dreams? He wasn't willing to risk it. And apparently, neither was Nami.

"I want to take the number one spot on Music 10 and prove them all wrong!" Asahi said determinedly, clenching a fist around the purupuru and clutching it to his chest. "I'll be a man, a man amongst men, I'll do whatever it takes!"

Nami blew out an exasperated puff of air. No one could ever accuse him of being an optimist, but with Asahi, he felt maybe there really was light at the end of the tunnel. Giving a wry smile, he lifted his arm off his face and got off the bed. If they really had to be guys to get back to who they were before... Then he would definitely do his best, even if it meant abandoning his female persona for a little while. With that decided, he strode towards Asahi and extended a hand.

"I'm Kai, and you?" He asked, giving a half cocked grin as he claimed his new persona.

Asahi smiled at that and took Kai's hand, giving it a firm, manly shake. "I'm Riku."

TBC =)


	4. Chapter 4

Author's notes- Great thanks for all the help guys. In particular mode107 for the interview translations and video links. ¨ I left a number of references to other dramas and even web-comics in this chapter. A cookie to the person who can guess which ones. Even just one of them... Especially the part about Kai in the bathroom. X3 I practically ripped that part straight off of one of my favorite LOL-worthy scenes. =)

Oh, and may I introduce my first AKB girl into the fray. ^_~ And I think you'll find that I have a love-love relationship with torturing poor Kai. *Cackles.* Oh well, enjoy. In Part two, we will FINALLY introduce Hinata.

Mendol~ A Man's World

Chp. 2 pt 1.

_**5:45 AM**_

The rays of the morning sun filtered through the windows and cast the bedroom in a warm glow.

Riku yawned slowly, opening his eyes with a soft sigh as he stretched his arms to the side and arched his back until he heard an audible 'pop'. "Ahh..." He said softly, exhaling deeply through his nose before finally rolling into a sitting position.

"Hey Kai, you up?" Riku implored, looking over to Kai's mattress as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He blinked twice when he found that it was empty. "Now where did he..."

His question was promptly answered by a girlish scream coming from down the hall.

Without a second thought he bolted to his feet and ran out of the room, his long legs carrying him to the source of the commotion in a couple short strides.

'The bathroom...?' He thought to himself, what could possibly be so horrifying in the bathroom? Grabbing the doorknob and turning it, he blinked when he found that the door was locked.

"Kai? Kai are you okay? What happened?" He shouted, worry lacing his voice as he banged on the door with his fist.

He heard small sobs and sniffles coming from inside and shook his head, a deep frown creasing the lines of his face. But before he could implore any further into his bandmate's condition, Kai hiccuped and answered him.

"It... It won't go down! I don't know what to do! It's been like this for an HOUR! I don't want to touch it but I have to pee..." Kai cried out, his words cut off by intermittent hiccups.

Riku blushed and growled slightly, slapping a palm to his face. Was that all? "Kai no BAKA!" Grumbling sleepily, he stalked back to their room to start getting ready.

"You mean you're not gonna help me?" Kai called out helplessly.

... And that was how Persona started their first day as 'Men Amongst Men'.

_**6:30 AM**_

Their dressing room was deathly quiet as Riku fought desperately with his fight or flight instinct by biting his lower lip and trying steel his will in preparation for the trial ahead.

"Kai... Hold my hand..." Riku sniffed as Kai looked over at him sympathetically, taking the man's hand firmly in his own as proud tears shimmered in his eyes. "Be strong Riku! It's almost over..."

The stylist's left eye twitched as her scissors sliced through the tall young man's girlishly long black hair. Riku flinched with every loch she had cut while the short one held his hand with a serious expression that looked absolutely ridiculous because he had enough aluminum foil in his bleached blond hair to catch satellite reception. 'Are they even guys...?' Mariko sighed mentally, starting to regret that she had taken this gig in response to a favor that she had owed Saeko. It had been a last minute request that the President had called in the night before, and the fact that she had had to make her way over here so early had further piqued the stylist's ire.

"Hold still," She said firmly, taking Riku's head in her hands and turning his dismayed face to the mirror. "The more you cooperate with me the faster we can get you out of here."

Riku sniffled and nodded, earning a whap on the back of the head from Persona's new personal stylist, Shinoda Mariko.

"Itaa..." Riku hissed, casting an agitated look at her from his peripheral vision. Though he had to admit, in spite of the cruel treatment she exacted upon him, he couldn't help but blush slightly when he looked at her. She was a tall, slender woman with short brown hair and a face that was refined and elegant with large eyes that were sharpened by a look of earnest attention and grave content characteristic of a skilled artisan. It was that expression that helped calm his jangled nerves, it was that expression that told him that they were in the hands of a true professional. That is, until she opened her mouth.

"I said. Hold. Still. Or so help me you 'will' be bald." She deadpanned. Riku stiffened up immediately, fighting back anxious tears.

Kai looked up at the pretty brown haired stylist and frowned at her. "You 'could' be a bit more sympathetic! You have no idea what he's going through right now!" The boy growled out, his intimidating aura diminished by a piece of aluminum foil that flopped directly into his eyes.

'I guess I really don't...' At that, Mariko stifled a laugh as she tried to refocus on the task at hand and started snipping away at the tall boy's hair. "Alright short stuff, I'll go easy on him." She said with a slight roll of her eyes.

"I~TE...! You're crushing my hand!" Kai yowled, at which point Riku blushed and relented as Kai turned his head to look at Mariko, apalled. "W-wait, what did you call me?"

"Short, diminutive, runty... Need I spell it out any further _chi-bi-ko_?" A laugh caught in her nose and caused the stylist/model to snort in a rather undignified manner. At that Kai got up and growled but felt Riku's firm hand on his elbow. Growling in frustration, he wagged a finger at her and gritted his teeth before finally sitting down. This woman had a death wish!

"Oh Riku, I'm fine... I just really-"He hissed the word 'really' through his teeth. "-wish that maybe 'someone' in this room would kindly shut their stupid pie hole before I do it for them." He said, narrowing his eyes at the woman. "Skinny beanstalk witch..."

Mariko gave a serene smile that was belied by Riku's mewls of pain. "Ack! Quit pulling my hair!" He cried out helplessly, feeling Mariko's hand clench around fistful of hair.

An hour and a half later they were both washed, rinsed and dried. Mariko stepped back to inspect her work, chin in hand as she nodded in approval. Even by her standards, she had outdone herself.

"Wow... Is this really me?" Riku blinked, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as he brushed a few errant strands of hair out of his face. The transformation had been total. His hairstyle was modern, fresh and immaculately groomed with a black base color that was tastefully streaked with dark red highlights. It was tapered up the back and sides to a longer, texturised and feathered length of hair that fell over his eyes in perfectly placed wisps. It told anyone that looked at the him that he was a gentleman first and foremost; one of discriminating tastes and the financial fortitude to afford a stylist to coif his mane to reflect those values.

Even Kai, who threw her a dirty look, had to admit it... "Shinoda-san... You're amazing!" Kai said, happy that the accursed foil had finally been taken out of his hair. Bending over the vanity, he grinned at his reflection. 'So this is me huh?' He thought, looking the boy that stared back at him admiringly. His hair had been transformed into a shocking blonde and high-lighted with bleach blonde streaks; it was tousled and stylishly unkempt with a slightly shaggy texture that gave the short young man a certain edge. It made him look dangerous and bold, a definite bad boy.

Riku winked at him, unable to hide his excitement. "I would definitely go out with you!"

"You know, I was thinking the same thing about you?" Kai grinned, grabbing Riku's hands as both of them jumped up and down together in girlish excitement.

Mariko, who had excused herself to go look for the outfits that they would wear for their first studio meeting paused and shot the boys an odd look.

"Um... Are you guys... Uh..." She started, not sure how to phrase her question as she stared at them with a raised eyebrow. "Together?"

"Of course we are!" Kai said excitedly, like a puppy with its tail wagging a mile a minute.

"Eh?" Mariko almost fell back. "You... A-are?"

"Of course, I thought Shachou already told you that we're in a band together!" He said, giving her a thumbs-up.

Riku, not quite as dense as his bandmate, buried his face in his palm. They must've looked really strange, no wonder she thought they might've been gay.

"Ehem... Uh, Shinoda-san, it's not what you think... We just got a, um... A little excited is all." He said, his face flushing slightly red. "Eh-heh... I guess there's a reason Shachou said that you were the best in the business." He laughed awkwardly, a hand to the back of his head.

Kai blinked, what had the stylist been thinking of? Creasing his brows, it took him all of few seconds to figure it out.

"Uwaah! We're not, I'm not... That's gross!" The boy shuddered, looking at her with wide eyes, jumping away from Riku like he had been burned.

Mariko rolled her eyes and walked forward, shoving some clothes into their arms. "These will be your outfits for today, I have a few coordinated for anything that might come up." She said, gesturing to the racks upon racks of clothes and accessories that were arranged all over the sizable dressing room. "They're all arranged by occasion, and size: mediums, smalls and larges and when I get exact measurements I can put in an order for stage costumes."

"So... We'll have to wear men's clothes all the time?" Kai implored, a slight grimace on his face.

Mariko blinked and looked at him strangely as Riku coughed and elbowed his bandmate in the side. Kai grunted and glared up at the tall man with confusion written on his face.

"What? Oh-" Kai's eyes widened as realization came to him in a flood. "Er- I mean, all this, uh, fancy stuff? Don't we get uh... Casual wear too?" He ventured, trying to cover for his slip.

"Uh... Yes, you do. I arranged the casual wear into that closet over there," Mariko said, pointing a well-manicured finger towards a walk-in closet in the corner of the dressing room. "Anyway-"

A knock at the door alerted the three and Kai ran over to answer open it, glad for the respite from the awkwardness of the situation. Marilyn walked into the room, putting both hands to her face while her mouth formed a perfect 'O'.

"You guys look fantastic! Shinoda-san, you've outdone yourself!" She exclaimed. The president had been right to call in a favor from Mariko, she had utterly transformed their looks, and even in sweatpants and t-shirts they still looked like superstars.

Mariko bowed politely, her mouth twisting into a confident grin. "My thoughts exactly."

Turning toward the boys, Marilyn clasped her hands together and gave them a cheerful smile. "Today we will be recording Persona's first single. Shachou is already waiting downstairs for you two. How long will it take you to get ready?"

A thrill of excitement went though both their bodies like a tree struck during a lightning storm. This was it! They were recording their first song. Even given their current circumstance, they couldn't help but grin ear to ear. Their dreams were finally beginning to morph into reality.

"Give us 3 seconds!" Riku called out, taking off his t-shirt as Kai also began to strip off his clothes, the short young man beginning to hum a tune to himself.

"Gahh! At least wait for me to leave the room!" Mariko barked, blushing hotly as the two bare-chested boys looked at her with perplexed expressions. It wasn't like it was anything she hadn't seen-

'OH!' Both groaned inwardly, girlishly crossing their hands over their chests as the stylist stalked past them, her face as red as a tomato.

'... They _have_ to be gay...' She thought exasperatingly. However, before she left, Mariko cast a furtive glance from the corner of her eye at the boys and her blush deepened. Even 'she' had to admit that their bodies were incredibly attractive. Lean, sleek and well-built with broad manly shoulders. In particular Riku's muscular and well-defined chest caught her attention.

'Why are good looks always wasted on the gay ones...?' She sighed mentally, shaking her head as she and Marilyn hurriedly excused themselves from the room.

"Don't keep us waiting!" Marilyn said cheerily from the other side of the door.

Kai and Riku sighed in concert as they got dressed. Kai softly hummed to himself, going back to the tune he had made up when Riku had said '3 seconds'. The tune eventually morphed into words as he slipped on the shirt that had been chosen for him. _"Sanbyou mitsumeru dake de..."_

Riku glanced at Kai and smiled as he pulled up his slacks, making up some lyrics on the spot to add to the tune. _"Otoshite miseyou ka..."_

They both exchanged looks and laughed as they finished dressing and headed out the door, still quietly humming the tune in their heads.

Marilyn looked at the two boys with eyes that shone with unabashed pride. Riku had donned a dark colored custom tailored Italian suit coupled with a tight, wide v-neck black shirt cut low on his chest and a stylishly skinny black tie inlaid with silver reflective material to offset the darkness of the outfit. Tasteful slip-on black leather shoes, a gun-metal gray Rolex and black-gray Prada aviator sunglasses brought the whole look together. The tall young man looked like he had just stepped off the cover of an Italian fashion magazine.

"You guys look perfect!" She said excitedly. "Now just remember, you're men now, be aware of any and all that you do. Rumors spread like wild fire in the industry."

They both nodded in affirmation.

"Osu!"

Kai turned and patted Riku's back.

"Lookin' good Riku," Kai grinned, giving him a thumbs up as Riku flicked a wrist at him in a 'p'shaw' movement.

"You're not half-bad youself partner." Riku said, giving him a lop-sided smile. His blonde band mate had gone in a completely different direction in style; decked out in fitted dark gray corduroy slacks that sat squarely on his hips coupled with a black and silver stud belt. He also wore an untucked tight-fitting white v-neck graphic tee printed with a watercolor Chinese tiger tastefully inlaid with an opaque gray brush-pen; the sleeves had been cut mid-forearm. An open light gray tweed vest and studded black wristbands, fingerless leather gloves and black converse sneakers helped the strapping young man personify the look of a hard core punk rocker.

Though their mannerisms still needed work, Marilyn couldn't help but be excited as she felt ever more assured that these young men would be the key to fulfilling the president's ultimate dream. Shachou gave them a blithe smirk and looked at them appraisingly. Pleased, she opened the door.

"Shall we, gentlemen?" She said, her voice as silk as the two gave her a wary look then glanced at each other, a determined smile on both their faces.

"Osu!" They chorused.

They were at the studio within a half hour and Riku and Kai waited anxiously at the door as Marilyn and Shachou entered the studio to debrief the crew. A few minutes later the two made their exit and paused to speak to the boys before they left.

"No monkey business, this is work and you have to at least keep up the _pretense_ that you're industry professionals." Shachou hissed. "And remember..." She smacked both their legs apart so that they stood in a manly stance instead of scrunched up in girlish anxiety like they had before. "You're MEN, men amongst men! Act like it." Her eyes narrowed in a look that said 'or else'.

Kai and Riku gulped audibly.

"O-Osu!"

"These people will take good care of you, I trust that you will return the favor," The president said, not hiding the underlying threat in her voice as she finally took her leave. "I will be back after I've finished conducting business here at the building."

Marilyn, who was about to bounce after her beloved President, paused and gave Kai and Riku encouraging smiles. "You'll do great! I believe in you guys." With that bit of encouragement passed on, she left.

Kai sighed and turned around, about to open the door when it suddenly opened on its own and he was faced with the bespectacled hazel eyes of a brunette foreigner with her hair done up in a loose ponytail.

"Ahh... You guys must be 'Persona', don't worry, we don't bite, come in, come in!" She said in heavily accented Japanese, ushering the petrified duo into the studio.

Whirling around, she flashed them both a disarming smile. "My name is Cammi, Cammi Shimizu," They both raised their eyebrows at the Japanese last name, but then realized that the woman they had thought was a foreigner was actually half Japanese. "I'm the presiding studio tech. I'll be supervising most of the activities here and providing support at the mixing console, and these lovely people." She made a flourishing gesture with her arms to the rest of the crew, who gave mixed expressions of exasperation at the eccentric studio tech as they waved awkwardly at the duo. "Are your studio crew! We're all here to help."

Kai tugged a bit at the collar of his shirt, flashing a charming smile that belied his nervousness. "Hey... I'm Kai."

Riku gulped, not handling his introduction as deftly as his band mate. "H-hi... Er, Um, my Riku is name, I mean, -er, mynameisRiku!" He let the entire sentance out in one breath and the people in the room exchanged expressions ranging from amusement to confusion. The women in the studio giggled at the handsome young Idol's nervousness.

"I believe that you'll find that we're all professionals that are very good at what we do, these are your musicians," Cammi said, sitting down next to a lanky young Korean man with long, pulled back raven hair and a disarmingly baritone voice that was belied by his delicate appearance.

"My name is Tae Kyung." He said simply, picking up an electric guitar from the floor and pulling the sling over his shoulders.

"And I'm Jeremy!" An impossibly blonde young Korean man in thick rimmed black glasses called out to them from behind the drums, grinning ear to ear. "Nice to meet 'ya!"

"Nice to make your acquaintance, I'm Shuichi," Said a casually dressed young man with dyed copper hair at the mixing table. "I'm the mixing tech, I'll be working with Cammi."

Riku and Kai both bowed politely and the group exchanged brief pleasantries before finally getting down to business.

"What kind of sound are you looking for?" Tae Kyung asked bluntly, his voice deep and indifferent.

"Well... I guess..." Riku rubbed the back of his head, not quite sure how to begin.

Kai grinned and slapped his partner on the back. "I think something like this-" He said, singing the few lines that they had made up before they left.

Tae Kyung strummed a few experimental chords, following the beat he had been given with impeccable precision as Jeremy scribbled down a few notes and began to tap out a beat. Riku smiled as the rest of the crew joined them, giving inputs here and there, building an instant camaraderie with the two charming young talents without even knowing.

A half an hour later Kai frowned deeply, feeling a sudden, horrifying urge. 'Oh no... Not again...' He thought, sweating slightly as he got up and excused himself.

'Why...?' He asked himself, sighing inwardly as he scrunched his legs together in an attempt to stifle the urge as he walked down the hall. 'Why did God design men this way...?"

He thought about his horrible first experience 'going' as a man earlier that morning and shuddered as he finally found the door he was looking for and entered the bathroom, only to be met with multitudes of girlish screams.

"Oh my god!"

"EEeek!"

"A pervert! Get out, get out!"

Kai screamed right back, both his hands going to his face as he looked from side to side. "Where?"

_... A few minutes later. _

Kai sported a big red hand-shaped welt on his right cheek as he grumbled, walking into the men's restroom. "Women... Tch... I didn't even do anything!" He lamented, frustration tightening his voice as he pushed open a stall and lifted up the seat, something he had just learned to do this morning. 'Aiming', given his previous, rather embarrassing condition that morning, was almost impossible and the poor toilet seat had paid the price.

With a sigh, he unzipped his pants and began to do his business in the stall, it wasn't as bad this time. At least 'it' wasn't doing anything funny like this morning. But then suddenly, it hit him.

"Ughhhh! What's that smell?" He hissed in disgust, looking down into the toilet. His eyes widened in horror. Some SLOB had forgotten to flush the toilet, disgusting!

"Oh grr-ooosss..." He made a face and leaned forward, pushing down the flush lever.

_*Flush, Cooooosshh, gurgle.*_

Kai's eyes widened to the size of saucers as the bowl began filling up at a distressingly fast rate of speed. He had to escape! But alas, the poor boy had already started peeing! 'Think, think, think!' He thought desperately, looking around the stall and finally catching sight of a plunger behind the toilet.

"A-ha! The plunger should make short work of this!" He said triumphantly, grabbing the plunger and furiously shoving it into the toilet.

_*Kashonk,koshonk,koshonk!*_

_*PSHHHHH!*_

To Kai's horror, the toilet had exploded into a literal geyser and his shoes and other items of clothing were being filled with fluids best not decribed! And the pee, OH GOD the pee!

"I can't stop it!" Kai screamed, now literally soaked from head to toe with quite possibly the most disgusting fluids imaginable. _"AHHHHHHHH!" _

_**15 minutes later **_

Kai growled as he stalked down the halls, his shoes squishing with every step he made. "Who the HELL doesn't flush the toilet?" He hissed, turning red as people looked at the thoroughly soaked boy strangely as he passed by. "MEN are disgusting!"

He had the worst luck in the world, he was sure of it, THE worst luck. He **had** to have been a mass murdering serial rapist in his previous life to have earned such a cruel fate. How was he supposed to go back to the studio like this?

'...' Speaking of going back to the studio...

'WHERE THE HELL AM I?' He screamed in his mind, whipping his head from side to side as he realized he had NO idea where he was.

TBC (Poor Kai...) ¨


	5. Chapter 5

Author's notes~ Poor Kai is having a bad day, I had to throw him a bone. =P Anyway, a couple very important introductions are going to happen in this chapter. Unfortunately Hinata is not one of them. My Achilles heel is that I tend to get caught up with details and thus the story doesn't move along as fast as it should. I apologize my dear readers. ¨

Mendol: A Man's World

Chp. 2 Pt. 2

A curious pair of brown eyes peeked around the corner to cast a furtive glance at the boy's back. She had heard his curses coming from down the hall and had been drawn out of her dressing room to go investigate. To say she was a bit surprised at his appearance would be an understatement. The boy was soaked and looked so frustrated that it seemed like he might cry. 'Poor guy...' She thought, feeling her heart go out to him. 'I should help...' With a sigh she left her hiding place and ran up to him, touching his shoulder.

'Stupid Shachou... Stupid toilet, and most of all, I hate this stupid bod-' His inward curses were interrupted when he felt a soft touch on his shoulder. The boy parted his bangs as he turned around and was faced with a very pretty young girl dressed in a simple cream yellow chiffon dress; her soft looking raven hair just barely touched her shoulders and framed her sweet, subtly heart shaped face in perfectly placed wisps, accentuating her large, concerned brown eyes.

"Are you okay...?" She asked, a small, sweet smile tugging at the corner of her lips. It was one of the prettiest things he had ever had the pleasure of seeing in his life... And somehow, vaguely familiar.

His breath hitched in his throat and his hand immediately went to the back of his head. He suddenly felt really embarrassed, he must've looked like a drowned sewer rat, and judging from the way she scrunched up her nose he probably smelled like one.

"Uh... Yeah... I just, uh, had an accident in the bathroom... A really... Horrible... Emotionally scarring accident," He mumbled out the last part, his face beet red.

But instead of walking off in disgust she giggled, the sound soft and pretty to his ears. "Come on... Let's get you cleaned up." She said affirmatively, tugging slightly on his sleeve and pulling him ahead.

His eyes widened and his heart leapt to his throat. "Wa-wait... What?" He exclaimed helplessly, feeling the blood thundering in his ears. "Where are we-"

She rounded a corner and flung open a door and he found himself running with her up a stairwell. The girl cast a look over her shoulder and they caught each other's eyes, she smiled brightly at him, giggling as he looked at her with a dumbstruck expression, her pretty laugh causing his own laughter to blossom in his chest.

By the time they had reached the top of the stairwell, they were both gasping from the strain of the run but unable to stop giggling. Kai grinned as he looked down at her smiling, dimpled face. He was soaked, breathless and dirty, but somehow, that smile made everything better, and he finally started to find the humor in this utterly ridiculous situation.

Breathing hard, the girl turned and opened the door to the roof, the fresh air rushing past her face and sweeping her soft ebony lochs behind her. Once again, he caught himself staring at her, intrigued by the girl. She was so pretty, and somehow looked exceptionally familiar to him.

"Come on, we're almost there," The girl said softly, tugging at his sleeve. He looked down at her with an awkward smile and followed her as she led him outside.

The sun greeted him warmly, the wind gently caressed his face and once again... Everything just seemed, better.

"So... What're we-" He was cut off by a sudden, cold jet of water on his back. "What the HELL?" Kai whirled around, only to be hit in the face by the same jet of water. "Aggghh!"

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you like that!" The girl exclaimed, looking shocked as she quickly held the water hose she had just turned on away from his general direction. "I'm so, so sorry..."

Kai blinked at her through his dripping bangs, took in her red face and his expression softened. It was an accident, she just wanted to help.

"Take off your clothes," She ordered, a request which caused his mind to suddenly go blank. When he stood there and said nothing, she tilted her head in confusion.

"Um..." He pressed both his index fingers together, looking at the ground.

A look of realization dawned on her face. "Oh! It's nothing like that, we just have to rinse out your clothes!" She flustered, her face flushing a deep red as he sighed in relief.

A few minutes later and the boy was stripped down to his boxers and the girl was gently washing out his hair as he crouched in front of her. He glowered, shivering like a wet puppy when the wind blew over his skin. His clothes had been washed out as best he could get them and set aside to dry.

"So... Cold..." He grumbled, bunching his shoulders together in an attempt to keep warm. However, he noticed that though they were quiet, the silence was easy, her fingers were soothing, and the hand soap she was using smelled pleasantly of vanilla. What should have been a highly awkward situation for him was instead a comforting one, like she was washing away the misery of the past two days. But he had to wonder... Why was she being so nice to him?

"Um..." He started awkwardly, looking up at her with an unsure smile tugging at his lips. "My name is K-Kai... Thank you, so much for your help."

He was never big on thank yous. He had always done everything on his own and never allowed others to do things for him that he could very well do himself.

"Don't mention it... You just looked so miserable, like a puppy stuck out in the rain, it was cute," She giggled lightly, he was about to protest when suddenly she clamped a thumb on the nozzle of the hose and sprayed him on the cheek.

He gaped and gave a dog-like shake of his head before glaring at her playfully and jumping to his feet, pulling at the hose as she skittered away from him, a teasing smile upturning the corner of her lips.

"Why you little..." He growled through a half-cocked smile, giving the hose another hard yank and causing the spray nozzle to splash onto her dress.

She looked at him with a shocked expression and then immediately started spraying him with a torrent of water from the hose.

"Oh-ho, so that's how you repay people who are nice to you?" She called out, her voice mock angry as she chased the flaxen haired boy around the roof. She paused when she saw that the water had suddenly cut off, she looked at the nozzle quizzically.

"Oh no, this is how I do it," Kai grinned, and she looked up with wide eyes as she saw him release a kinked hose from his hand, unleashing a powerful jet of water straight into her face.

She looked at him, dripping wet and utterly astounded. Kai blinked, worried that he had offended the girl.

"Hey uh... I"m sorry if-" He started to apologize, only to be cut off by the girl erupting into a fit of giggles, hunched over and pointing at him.

"You-" She gasped out between laughs. "Look ridiculous!"

He looked down at himself and found the decency to blush. He was absolutely drenched, almost naked and shivering. Frowning, he hugged himself about the chest. As the girl's laughs subsided, she looked at him thoughtfully.

"Hey Kai-san... Do you know how much a polar bear weighs?" She asked pointedly, ringing out her hair as she gave him a charming smile.

Kai looked up at her and his eyes widened as he recognized the unbelievably cheesy pick up line. Of course! That's why she was so familiar, she was the cheerleader that he had pushed into the wall to help cover his escape at TV Tohto. He voice caught in his throat and he swore he blushed to the roots of his hair as he remembered what he had done to her. He averted his gaze to the floor, suddenly finding his toes exceptionally interesting.

She walked toward him, her fingers interlaced behind her back as she bent forward to crane her face to look at his dismayed downturned expression.

"... Enough to break the ice. " He looked down at her big brown eyes glittering mirthfully back at him and gulped audibly. "I'm Atsuko, Maeda Atsuko."

Before Kai could say another word however, the door to the roof opened and a girl poked her head out to look quizzically at the two.

"I thought I'd find you out-" She clapped a hand over her mouth when she noticed Kai's state of dress.

"Oh god, Acchan! As much as I understand the need we don't have time! We have to get down to the studio ASAP for the pre-screening!" The girl called out, her cute dimpled face in a disgruntled frown as she darted across the roof and grabbed Atsuko's arm, dragging her back towards the stairwell, but not before pausing to look Kai up and down. After a moment or two she smirked and gave him an appreciative whistle, at which Kai blushed, suddenly feeling a bit like a piece of meat at the market.

"Not bad shaw'ty! Holla back sometime!" She said teasingly. "C'mon Atsuko let's get out of here!"

"Who the hell are you calling-" He bristled angrily but was cut off by Atsuko's exasperated voice.

"Okay, okay Yuko, I got it," She said as the girl 'tsked' with her tongue. Atsuko sighed and looked over her shoulder, casting an apologetic look at Kai who simply waved dumbly at their backs as Yuko ranted about her state of dress and how she should really learn to keep it in her pants during working hours. This was their careers they were talking about!

"Acchan huh...?" He tested the name on his tongue and smiled as he took his still slightly damp clothes off the ground and started slipping them on. "Nice to meet you too..."

Just as he was about to slip his shirt over his shoulders a voice from the other side of the roof garners his attention. He catches sight of the building housing the second stairway to the roof and finds that once again, curiosity gets the best of him.

The camera pans towards a tall woman clad in a short, loose white sundress with long, shimmering raven hair. She leaned against the slightly rusted railing on the roof of TV Tohto, her face set in a deep frown though her eyes were obscured by pearl white Chanel sunglasses. She held a cell phone to her ear, the source of her ire being the person on the other end of the line.

"Why are you calling me?" She asked bluntly, her voice cold and unforgiving as the wind swept her hair over her shoulders. After a few moments of talking, her expression seemed to soften to something akin to hurt and resignation. "No... I won't."

As the person continued to speak to her she bit her lip, feeling a familiar anger flare up inside of her.

"Do you even know what day it is today?" She asked, trying to keep her voice from cracking... She would never give this person the satisfaction of hearing her cry.

When the line went silent, she snapped the phone shut.

She stared at it for a little while, feeling a sharp pain beginning to well in her chest, throbbing harshly as though her emotions had taken on the form of an illness. She didn't want to cry, she really didn't, but she couldn't stop the tears from forming in her eyes as her throat tightened unbearably, forcing a choked sob to escape her mouth. Why did that person still elicit this reaction from her...? Why was she so weak? Why did she keep answering the phone every time they called like some simpering dog waiting for its master to come home...?

"What day 'is' it today?" Came a soft, imploring voice from behind her. She whirled around to face a short, bare-chested young man with an unruly shock of blonde hair.

She gasped and turned around quickly, looking at the traffic down below. "Wh-what are you doing here?" The woman demanded weakly, her voice hitching on a sob. "P-please leave..."

Kai's heart ached for the mystery woman. He hadn't meant to, but he had eavesdropped slightly on her conversation on the phone. He figured it must've been an ex-boyfriend or something of the like to have provoked that kind of reaction from her. He hadn't had any experience with break-ups before, but even he could tell that the woman in front of him was lonely, hurt and painfully alone.

"Ano..." He started, slipping on his shirt and cursing himself. Crying girls were a weakness of his. Fuck, he wasn't good at comforting people in the least, but he couldn't just leave her there. He knew that when he was upset, perhaps after the numerous failures he experienced and the blistering humiliation of being told he was worthless, the last thing he really wanted was to cry it out alone.

With his resolve strengthened, he took a seat next to the woman and wondered if Riku and the others were looking for him, he'd been gone over an hour... And for some reason, this roof was very popular today.

"I-I said... Go away!" She said, cursing her voice for sounding so broken.

"Happy Birthday," Kai said simply, taking a shot in the dark and not looking at her. He knew when he was crying, he didn't want anyone looking at him, it was humiliating.

She looked at him from the corner of her eye, shocked. "How did you...?" She asked uncertainly, her voice still tight with tears.

Kai shrugged, an ironic smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Lucky guess..." He said truthfully, at which she let out a sound that seemed like a mix of a scoff and a sniffle. "... Are you, okay?"

At that, her chest once again felt heavy and her voice was stolen away from her, replaced by painful sobs. Kai's eyes flew open in alarm.

"N-no... I'm not... So just please, leave me alone..." She begged softly, slumped over the railing with her face in her hands.

He didn't know what to do... She seemed so utterly broken, and he silently cursed whoever had driven the woman to such a state. He chanced a glance up at her and felt his heart constrict when he saw tears sliding down her pale cheeks. At this point, he knew that nothing he could say would make her feel better, so he got to his feet and did the only other thing he could think of.

A few moments later, the woman gasped as she felt two strong arms encircle around her shoulders, pulling her back into a loose, but comforting embrace. She wanted to pull away, she wanted to slap him for being so forward, but the warmth was just so inviting, and the light musk of his cologne mixed with the light smell of vanilla was soothing.

Kai felt awkward doing this and considered pulling away but then thought better of it when the woman gasped, stiffened, and finally, after a few moments relaxed into him. He sighed and hung his head slightly, feeling a bit warm as the silken strands of her hair tickled his nose, smelling lightly of jasmine. For a long time they were silent, and minutes ticked by as he stood and held her against him until the rise and fall of her slim shoulders grew quieter, and her sobs subsided to quiet sniffles.

"_Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday dear..._ Er..." His playful singing voice was like silk on her ears and she couldn't help but giggle slightly. Kai's mouth twisted into a half-cocked smile, her laugh was pretty.

"Hanako," She said simply, reclining bonelessly against him, wondering to herself how it was possible to feel so at ease in a complete stranger's arms. It was as if all her problems had suddenly become unimportant, to the point where she was wondering why she had cried in the first place.

"_Happy birthday dear __**Hanako-san**__, happy birthday to you..._" He sang the last part softly into her ear, a relaxed smile playing on his lips as she shivered slightly at the feel of his breath on her skin.

"T-thank you..." She said quietly, taking off her sunglasses and wiping her face on her shoulder before turning around in the strangers arms to face him. He gulped and immediately stepped away, feeling a bit awkward now that the woman was looking at him face to face.

His voice died in his throat when he looked at her, because she was simply too gorgeous for words. She looked tragically beautiful, her raven bangs falling gracefully over her red-rimmed eyes as she bit her full, luscious lips in uncertainty. And somehow, like Atsuko, she seemed incredibly familiar, like he had seen her before on more than one occasion.

Hanako fought the urge to gasp as she laid eyes on the stranger. He wasn't very tall, she was pretty sure she still had a good three inches on him, but he was handsome in a boyish kind of way, with an unruly, windswept shock of blond hair falling over wide and innocent looking eyes. Her heart stirred in her chest as he put a hand behind his head and laughed awkwardly, looking at his watch.

His eyes snapped open and he grit his teeth, smacking himself in the forehead. He'd been gone almost an hour and a half! He had to get back or Shachou would kill him!

"Anyway, I'm glad you're feeling better!" He beamed at her, blinking slightly when he saw her blush but thinking nothing of it as he turned around. "Anyway, I gotta get back to work!" He said, jogging over to the stairwell and winking as he waved goodbye. "Maybe we'll catch each other again sometime Hanako-san?"

"Wa-wait!" She called out, taking a step forward and extending a hand to him, but he had already disappeared down through the door. "... I didn't even get your name..."

Kai sighed, scratching his head and musing about the two women he had just met, wondering privately if he would ever meet them again. As he walked down the hall he heard fast approaching footsteps coming his way and blinked as he looked up. Marilyn looked at him with a relieved smile with Riku behind her.

"Yo, Kai!" Riku called out, also looking relieved but then looking at him strangely as he noticed that his band mate was, well, quite damp to say the least. He decided to drop it for now, with Kai's luck he wasn't exactly surprised. "You missed a good time."

Kai frowned at that, disappointed that he missed out on most of their first studio experience. His disappointment was short lived as Marilyn 'tsked' at him.

"Kai-san! I'm so glad we found you, where were you anyway and why are you so wet?" She asked, her expression a bit perplexed as she pulled on his arm so that he fell in step with them. "You should have called! You might've missed an important meeting! We're headed up there right now."

"With who?" Kai and Riku chorused, looking perplexed as they struggled to keep up with Marilyn as she power walked down the halls.

"You'll see," She winked at them over her shoulder as they all piled into an elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. Their question was answered as they stepped out into a spacious corridor that housed only one, elaborate set of French doors with a placard etched with the name 'Sarukawa Keiji - Monkey Productions".

They both gaped. The president of Monkey Pro? That's who they were scheduled to meet today?

Marilyn, unimpressed, walked forward and knocked on the door.

"Enter!" Called a cordial male voice from the other side.

TBC... =_=; Need sleepz.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's notes ~ In the previous chapter, mysterious sad birthday girl is actually Ray, she just gave him a fake name so he wouldn't fan boy and make things weird. =P Anyway, in this chapter, we 'finally' at long last introduce Kuu/Hinata. YAY! And I put in yet another gratuitous shirtless Kai scene. X3 And with that chipper note... I now retire to my bedchambers. dancing_ ¨

Thanks for the support everyone. *bows.*

Warning: There are suicidal themes and blood in this chapter.

Mendol: A Man's World

Chp. 2 Pt. 3

Riku and Kai fidgeted nervously on the couch. Kai especially because Shachou was next to him, glaring daggers at his damp and disheveled appearance.

'I don't want to die today...' Kai smiled nervously, sweating bullets as the woman next to him narrowed her eyes darkly at his profile. He was going to get punished for this, he was sure.

"So these are the ones you talked about on the phone?" On the couch across from them the man known as Sarukawa Keiji leaned forward with interest, his bespectacled eyes appraising.

Riku and Kai stared back, a bit skeptical despite their nervousness. The man looked kind of like a middle-aged gigolo, with a dark purple crushed velvet suit, a garish red tie with printed gold and teal kitty cats of all things and thinning, badly dyed red-brown hair.

Saeko smiled graciously and gave him a polite bow. "Yes, that's right, Mr. Sarukawa." She turned to look at them and narrowed her eyes at their girlishly crossed legs. She started coughing loudly, hissing at them between coughs.

"*Cough**Cough*Legs*cough*uncrossyourdamnlegs*Cough*Cough*!" Her eyes promised murder as she glared at them from behind a gloved hand.

The two boys gaped slightly at her but immediately let their legs fall apart as they fixed their posture.

Sarukawa-Shachou gave them an odd look as Saeko laughed, the sound shrill and patently fake as she threw the boys a dark, exasperated look.

"Greet him," She hissed through her teeth.

Riku blinked, his eyes widening for moment like a student who had been unexpectedly called upon in class. "Er-" He rolled quickly off to couch to his feet, squaring his shoulders and popping his neck in what he hoped came off as a manly stance.

"OSU! I'm Riku of Persona!" He pronounced, his voice deep, loud and manly.

Sarukawa-Shacou jumped slightly, not expecting such a robust greeting from what had seemed to be a tall, gentile kind of fellow. A disbelieving smile began to play on his lips.

"OSU!" Kai stood to his feet, bumping his chest with his fist as he looked down at the president with eyes that flashed with challenge. "And I'm Kai."

"... Why are you wet?" He asked curiously, taking note of the man's slightly disheveled appearance.

Kai blinked, blushing to the roots of his hair. How was he supposed to answer? That he was attacked by a toilet and washed like a dog at the roof of TV Tohto? Never! He'd rather die!

"Ano..." He started, looking away, desperately trying to think of an excuse.

After a few moments Sarukawa Shachou shook his head, giving a dismissive wave of his hand as he reclined back on his seat, his eyes smiling with surprise and amusement as he put the tips of his fingers together.

"Well, the two definitely fit the mold you were talking about... And they're handsome, but they act cutely, almost like schoolgirls." He chortled, amused at his joke and not noticing as the color drained from Kai and Riku's faces, both looking away in concert.

Saeko gave another gracious smile, motioning for her boys to take their seat as she leaned over the table. "We wanted to come greet you, since you are the head of Monkey Pro. our parent company, afterall."

"So, in other words, you have a request for me?" He drawled as he looked down, smirked and slouched over the arm of the couch as he crossed his legs.

Saeko cleared her throat as she rolled to her feet, her eyes half-lidded as she walked slowly to Sarukawa-Shachou's side. The sexy sway of the black clad woman's hips immediately caught the President's attention.

"Well... The truth is," She purred, her voice smooth as silk as she came to a stop behind him. "I'd like to have these two on "The Indies!", a corner in Music 10."

The man looked at her incredulously, his voice a bit indignant. "Are you serious?" He scoffed. "There's no way I could do that!"

She slinked onto the armrest of the couch, coming dangerously close to him, her eyes dark and sultry. "But surely you could..." Her hand found its way to his thigh, slowly snaking its way upwards as the man shuddered, his brain starting to shut down. "You're the don of the music world, and you have Ray..."

His breathing was slightly erratic as he tilted his head up to take in the woman's scent, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Riku and Kai looked at them, slack-jawed.

Keiji, who did a slight double-take when he noticed they were still there, grunted impatiently and waved them away in annoyance. "You two, leave! Get out!"

"O-OSU!" They chorused. The two didn't need any more encouragement than that as they bolted to their feet and fled the room, red faced.

As the door shut behind them, Keiji sighed in pleasure, a goofy smile on his face as he wrapped his arms around Saeko's slim shoulders. "If you want me to budge it. will. cost. you." He sing-songed, leaning into her but almost falling on his face as she got up and walked directly to his desk, turning around a picture sitting prominently in the front.

"I was a big fan of yours," She mused mysteriously, looking down at the three young musicians in the black and white photo with no little amount of nostalgia. "Twenty years ago when you were Monkey of Animal Crush... And had that sexy way of playing the guitar."

Keiji grinned as he stood up and pantomimed playing a guitar, sidling up next to her and running his fingers over her shoulders. She turned her eyes away, sheer discipline forcing her face not to reflect the disgust that flared within her.

"So... Why are you pushing these two so hard?" He asked huskily into her ear, curiosity getting the best of him. The President of Kamonohatsu Entertainment rarely, if ever, invested her time in talents she didn't believe in, which was why her company remained small, but successful.

She broke away from him abruptly, turning her eyes to the picture once more. "I believe... They are the next Animal Crush." She said, her voice strangely heavy.

The next three days were a trial by fire. With Saeko at the reins, they hurriedly recorded their first single and practically took up residence in TV Tohto's dance studio in preparation for their debut. It was grueling work, but it was necessary. Every year there was a motley representation of artists from almost any genre imaginable present at the Indies. The groups or artists that stood out had a real chance of merging into the mainstream, which was exactly the point of Saeko going out of her way to get them a slot. In other words, they HAD to stand out to be successful.

Kai and Riku groaned in pain, sidling up to a pillar as they listened to the roar of the crowd as they cheered on the band currently playing. "Three days..." Kai sighed, rubbing his sore calves as he turned nervous eyes out to the large gathering of people outside.

"Three days..." Riku repeated, gingerly ripping a band-aid off his face that was a result from an embarrassing dancing incident two days earlier. He had really thought face plants only ever happen in anime... "Of song and dance training from hell..."

"We'll be killed before we even get on stage..." Kai bemoaned, looking at the ceiling. It felt like they hadn't been able to rest at all in the past three days... But fortunately the recording crew had been the absolute best, staying with them through the entire process until they finally had a polished product. And what a product it was. Even the quiet and brooding Tae Kyung had chanced a smile when they heard the finished recording. The single would be a formidable weapon if performed to the best of their ability. That, and their custom tailored stage clothes.

Mariko had taken their measurements the same day they were booked for the Indies and designed the costumes herself. Riku was outfitted with a custom tailored black suit with the jacket left open coupled with a tight white dress shirt with the collar unbuttoned and a loose black silk tie. Kai's outfit was a sharp turn-around from the look he had captured at the studio, with a suit similar to Riku's paired with a dress shirt and a black blazer that had bold white edging on the lapels and a loose, black and white striped tie to bring the look together. Silver, music themed accessories pinned to their lapels completed the costume.

Riku gave a tired, appreciative smile. Shinoda-san was a fashion genius, and thanks to her, they finally looked like real professionals.

"Saeko-chan!"

The group looked up at the two men approaching them and Kai and Riku exchanged a shocked glance, recognizing them immediately. Those were the two producers that were present at their failed auditions. Knowing that they would never be recognized like this, the two relaxed as Shachou and Marilyn greeted the men pleasantly, thanking them for putting the show together.

The two boys excused themselves to furtively peek at the crowd from behind another pillar. "I'm so nervous now..." Riku said, trepidation in his voice as he gazed out over the large, raucous crowd cheering on a hard core rock group that had taken the stage. His heart jumped to his throat and he breathed deeply as Kai put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"We've done all we could right?" He said with confidence that didn't quite reach his eyes; moving slightly out of the way as a stage tech brushed passed them. "Hehe... We should probably get back stage now, we're up soon right?"

Riku once more cast his gaze out to the crowd, his heart pounding as the MC announced the next group. They _were_ up soon...

"Let's go." He said determinedly, his hand forming a fist as he made his way toward the stage. Kai's eyes flashed in excitement as he hobbled after his band mate, his legs still feeling like jelly.

They found that getting to the stage was harder than it sounded. There were people everywhere performing the various jobs required to make the Indies a reality. All this hard work was done for the crowd cheering outside and Riku smiled appreciatively, once again looking at the crowd, only to stop in his tracks.

"It can't be..." He breathed, his eyes falling on a lanky young man with greasy, garishly blond hair milling about the edge of the crowd with his camera. "J-Jiro?"

Kai followed Riku's line of sight and blinked. "You know him?"

Riku shuddered, his face set into an expression of annoyance. "He was my neighbor, he's been proposing since pre-school... He's stupidly persistent."

Marilyn walked up behind them and peeked over their shoulders curiously, having eavesdropped slightly on the conversation. "Your fiance?" She asked excitedly, her selective hearing only catching the word 'proposing'.

"No..." He said, rolling his eyes. "He left home three years ago to be a photographer... I wonder what he's doing here?"

Jiro, having no idea that he had an audience, blinked and fiddled with his camera. Riku watched as the gawky young man grumbled and attempted to get the thing back online, turning around and bumping clumsily into Producer Kaga and the other man Saeko had been speaking to earlier. The two seemed annoyed at Jiro, saying something that seemed to sufficiently intimidate the man before stalking off.

"Well..." Marilyn touched Riku's shoulder and gave him a cheerful smile, distracting him from his friend. "Do your best out there today. I'm rooting for you guys."

With that, she left to find the president, leaving Riku with his thoughts. "Huh... Where's Kai?" He mused, looking around and catching his blond band mate a couple feet away, staring at the crowd like a deer caught in the headlights as they booed a group of performers off stage.

"I... I can't do this!" He yelped, turning away from the stage and looking at the ground, the negative energy of the crowd turning what had simply just been nerves into full on stage fright. "I'm going back... I can't do this performance!"

Riku gulped, trying to steel his own wavering confidence as he took the short young man's shoulders in his hands. "Let's go-" He was cut off by producer Kaga coming up behind him with the stage director in tow, tut-tutting as he tapped his clip board with a pen.

"What are you doing? Get out there!"

The MC, trying to placate the crowd after the particularly bad performance, called out the next group in a rush. "Music 10: The Indies would like to introduce the amateur unit PERSONA! Give them a warm round of applause!"

In no time at all, Kai and Riku found themselves on stage, microphones in hand as the crowd stared and clapped. It was a cloudy day, and as they stood there they could feel rain drizzling around them... Even nature wasn't welcoming their debut.

Riku quickly steeled his jangled nerves, gritting his teeth. "OSU! I'm Riku of Persona!" He proclaimed, hitting his chest with a fist.

"I'm K-K-Kai!" Kai stammered out, clearly a nervous wreck. His stage fright was severely affecting Riku and the confidence the man had had before drained like rain out of a gutter.

Marilyn gestured at them desperately from backstage. "Your lines! Talk! Talk!"

They caught sight of her and somehow that alone seemed to ground the boys slightly. They had a job to do!

"We are men amonst men!" Riku said, plastering on a (patently fake) confident smile. "That's why we will always greet the crowd with an 'OSU!'" He struck a fist into the air. "When we do, we want you to reply with a 'MESU!' Let's try it out! OSU!"

Kai blinked out of his stupor and also struck a fist awkwardly into the air. "O-OSU!"

The line was supposed to draw the crowd into the performance and make them laugh, but because of their lack of confidence, it had simply come off sounding horribly corny. There was a mixture of boos, expressions of discontent and silence from the crowd. They were dying out there.

"Aigoo... that was bad..." Jeremy lamented from his place in the crowd, the shockingly blonde Korean man nibbling anxiously on some rock candy. "It's just the nerves... It'll be okay, I mean, even _I_ almost puked at my first performance, right Tae Kyung?"

Tae Kyung grunted, his eyes studying the two critically as his lips pursed together in discontent. "You did puke. On me." He deadpanned, shuddering inwardly in disgust, he had had to disinfect for three days after the incident.

Jeremy had the decency to blush, knowing that Tae Kyung was notoriously fastidious, so that particular incident was probably scarring. "... Sorry." He mumbled under his breath as he turned to look at Cammi and saw her biting nervously at her handkerchief, almost ripping the poor scrap of fabric in half.

"My poor babies!" Cammi exclaimed, looking at them worriedly as Shuichi shook his head behind her. They were too talented for this crap!

Marilyn ran over to Saeko with worry lacing her voice. "President, this is bad! What are we going to do? Maybe it's too soon?"

Saeko smiled serenely, narrowing her eyes at the stage. "If they can't handle a crowd like this, then even as men they won't make it in the Idol world..."

Riku cleared his throat as his face flushed red with embarrassment; as they say, the show must go on. "A-anyway, this is Persona with 3-"

A scream in the crowd cut them off and they both looked up to see a flash of pink running past the outskirts of the audience.

"Stop her!" A security guard bellowed, thundering after her with three other men.

"Denpa?" Kai and Riku chorused, getting a good look at the girl and immediately recognizing her as their 'comrade' from the audition!

"Don't come any close or I swear I'll do it!" Hinata cried out, coming to a stopping in front of the stage and holding the blade of the box-cutter to her throat. "I want to die... In fact... I will die soon..." Tears ran down her face and it was then that people in the crowd started screaming as they got a full frontal look at her. "But if I die... It'll be here, in front of HIM!"

She had already cut her wrists and blood was running freely down her pretty pink dress.

Kai and Riku's eyes widened, feeling like their hearts had fallen into their stomachs. Bile rose to the back of Kai's throat at the sight and Riku held onto his shoulder for support.

"Denpa..." He said lowly, fear and worry lacing the tones of his voice. He wanted to run out to her, but at this point she was was dangerous, unstable and unpredictable... What could he do?

"I wanted to be an Idol for so long... I've auditioned over a hundred times..." She said softly, her voice low and broken but then suddenly becoming rigid with anger. "I finally thought I had caught a break... But in reality I was manipulated by Music 10 Producer Kaga!"

The producer looked furious as all eyes seemed to turn to him but guilt kept him from saying anything.

"He took advantage of my feelings and did something terrible to me..." She said, her voice almost hitching on a sob, the physical pain nothing compared to the betrayal she felt.

Kai and Riku looked at each other, their hearts clenching in sympathy for the girl as they threw glares in the producer's direction.

"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything!" Producer Kaga exclaimed, waving his hands in front of him in a placating gesture.

"Don't lie! I'll never forgive you!" She screamed out, her eyes red and angry as blood ran freely down the arm that held the blade to her neck. "When I die here, you'll be ruined! You and your company!"

Producer Kaga's stomach turned at that... She was right, at this point, his career was probably already done for, but his personal creation, the Indies, would also die with that girl. The scandal would be ruinous!

"Someone call 911!" He bit out. If the girl lived, there would at least be a chance for recovery even if his ethics were called into question. The stage techs around him immediately started dialing their phones.

"This is bad... She'll die if we don't do something!" Kai said, looking at Riku desperately.

Riku's face eased into a determined expression and he stepped forward.

"Angel!" He called out, to which Hinata turned around, feeling lightheaded as she looked at the tall young gentleman approaching her.

"What... Did you say?" She asked softly.

"You... Are an angel on Earth," He said softly, his rumbling baritone voice earnest and gentle as he jumped off stage. He didn't care how ridiculous he sounded.. He 'needed' to get through to her.

Kai joined him, nodding vigorously in agreement and looking at the girl seriously. "Yes, a sweet angel on Earth."

"Why...?" Hinata asked, choking on her tears. All her hard work had been for nothing, her dreams had been crushed. The producer had hit her, tried to rape her, and she had barely escaped... But as if the physical abuse hadn't been enough... He had called her worthless, said the only thing she was good for was a good lay. She had only ever wanted to make people happy...

Riku was getting desperate as he watched the color drain from her face along with a disturbing amount of blood staining her skirt; realizing that if he didn't get through to her soon she would die.

"I know you're an Earth angel!" He proclaimed, as if it was the only truth left in the world.

Kai growled and stood his ground next to his band mate the sight of blood still dripping from her wrists sending a surge of adrenaline through his body. "Yes, a pure earth angel!" He said determinedly, his fists closing anxiously.

"But," Riku said gently, approaching her slowly, his band mate following suit. "If you really are an angel... Then wouldn't you want to make people happy?"

"Yeah," Kai said seriously, his eyes flashing with concern. "It's not an Angel's job to make people unhappy!"

"R-really...?" She asked, black spots starting to appear in her vision as she swayed slightly. "Even... If I'm... Eighteen...?"

"Even if you're older than eighteen!" Kai said, nodding his head furiously, feeling alarmed when he saw her start to get unsteady.

"You're still... An earth angel!" They shouted together holding their hands out to her. Hinata smiled weakly at them.

The box cutter clattered loudly on the ground as the girl crumpled forward.

"Denpa!" Riku cried desperately, catching her before she hit the ground and holding her tight against him, her blood soaking his shirt. Kai came up next to them, threw off his blazer and quickly tore off his shirt, ripping the expensive piece of clothing to bits and using it to tie her wrists, trying to stem the bleeding as hot, angry tears stung at his eyes.

"I'm so sorry this happened..." Kai said, roughly swiping at his eyes with the back of his hand as she looked at him with a soft smile. This was all she needed... Someone who believed in her. Someone to tell her that she could do it. Kai's heart warmed slightly at the sight of such a genuine smile, it somehow reassured him that she was going to be okay. She leaned listlessly against Riku as Shachou approached them from the side.

"Get back to work," She said stonily, gathering the poor girl in her arms. "I'll... Take care of her."

"No way!" Kai growled, waving a fist at the woman. "We're going too! We gotta make sure she's okay... She's our friend!"

Riku nodded in agreement, looking at Shachou seriously, his face set in a frown.

She gave them both a cold look as she stood up with Hinata in her arms. "_I said_, I'll take care of her..." She lowered her voice. "She'll be fine... Just finish the performance."

Before they could protest further, Shachou left, the crowd parting for her and the security team that followed.

"Hey!" Kai shouted at her back, the situation not sitting well with him.

"C'mon... I'm sure she'll be fine..." Riku, ever the voice of reason said as he sighed tiredly. He was covered in blood, his nerves were shot and he really, really just wanted to get the day over with. He did NOT picture this to be the way he would make his debut at all. "Let's do this thing."

Kai nodded solemnly.

The crowd erupted into cheers and applause as the two young heroes took their place back on stage. Kai blushed as he noticed that somehow, he was shirtless again but still wearing his tie. To add insult to injury he had forgotten his blazer on the ground in front of the stage.

Not that the crowd seemed to mind that much...

"It's like God wants me to be wet and naked all the time..." He hissed, feeling raindrops hitting his bare skin and blushing hotly as girls pointed and giggled at him.

"At least you don't look like a vampire..." Riku grumbled, making a face at his blood drenched shirt as he put the mic to his lips.

"OSU!" They heard a chorus of voices shout from the back of the crowd and were shocked to see the entire studio crew there cheering for them, the crowd soon following suit by repeating the chant and striking fists into the air.

They both blushed but then glanced at each other, nodding, the crowd's enthusiasm was absolutely infectious.

"This song is dedicated to all angels on Earth!" Riku spoke into the mic calmly and confidently, no longer afraid. They had to do this, to fulfill their dream, to get back to their real selves!

"This is Persona with '3 Seconds'!" They said together as the song began. The music permeated the venue and seemed to infuse people with excitement as the crowd began to rush the stage and dance, clapping with the music.

"These guys are so... Cool!" Jiro breathed, looking up from his camera. He had gotten a front row seat to the drama, how Persona had tried to save the girl's life and he had taken the pictures to prove it. No more cup noodles for him! 'Even if I die... I won't eat another one!' He thought determinedly, his eyes starting to mist.

On the outskirts of the crowd Sarukawa Keiji was looking ruefully at the two performers on stage as a tall young woman clad in a pair of baggy jeans and a simple black hoodie stopped next to him. A statuesque, well muscled female bodyguard fell in line behind her; she was also dressed casually. Producer Kaga had called Sarukawa when the unfortunate incident had happened and the President of Monkey Pro thought it best to make a personal appearance. Unfortunately that meant dragging his number one talent, who was in his company on route to a photo shoot, out to the Indies with him. He'd probably never hear the end of it...

However, when they got there the scene had already been cleared and there was even a performance going on. A really good one apparently because the large crowd encircling the stage was going crazy with excitement.

"Who are they?" The woman asked, taking off her sunglasses as her eyes locked onto the performers on stage. She gasped slightly when she saw the blonde performer, recognition alighting in her eyes.

He looked down at her and smiled widely. Though she was in disguise, she was still stunning. What else could be expected from the number one Diva in Japan?

"Saeko's new talents... This is becoming interesting isn't it Ray?" He asked, crossing his arms as he looked back to the men on stage, he was pleased that the performance had been saved since the Indies were under the Monkey Pro umbrella. The company didn't need any more scandals. However, the fact that it had been Persona that had saved the day didn't sit well with the man. The incident bore good tidings for Kamonohatsu Entertainment, but also possible competition for Monkey Pro. He _hated_ competition. "I don't think I've seen a crowd quite so excited at the Indies since, well I'd say about four years ago..." He winked down at her meaningfully.

Ray nodded slowly, finding herself unable to tear her eyes away from the two young men performing on stage. In particular her eyes stayed locked onto the blonde performer, and she blushed when she saw that he was shirtless except for a tie. As she watched she found herself mesmerized by his powerful voice, the way his sinewy muscles moved under his sun-kissed skin as he danced and how his eyes flashed with confidence behind his sweat soaked blond bangs... It was him. She had no doubt about it. The man she had met on the roof.

"Arrange for me to meet hi-them," She said abruptly, just barely correcting her slip as she put her sunglasses back on.

The bodyguard made a little noise of surprise and Keiji blinked. The diva was notoriously private, always maintaining that her work should speak for itself and demanding no less than perfection from herself and her staff at all times. Time was money, and she wasn't the type to waste either on industry newbies.

"You... Want to meet them?" He ventured, making sure he heard correctly. She looked at him expressionlessly, her silence saying it all.

"A-Alrighty..." He said, rubbing the back of his head as he watched Ray turn and leave, her bodyguard trailing after her.

Persona would never know who was there watching them.

They were both breathless as they walked through the hallways of TV Tohto, heading to the dressing room that had been provided for them in return for the boys' quick and decisive action with the suicidal girl. They had saved the company from an even bigger scandal and singlehandedly rescued the Indies from becoming a tragedy of the worst kind. To boot their performance was amazing and though the venue was small, they had both felt like their bodies were on fire.

Not to mention the fact that afterwards they had been approached for interviews, late-night appearances and to top it all off, Producer Kaga was put under investigation for ethics code violations and would probably lose his job.

Marilyn smiled at them, proud of her boys. Unfortunately, her mind was elsewhere... More specifically occupied with the location of her beloved Shachou, who had disappeared with Hinata before the performance.

"Persona's the best!" They cheered, still feeling like they were walking on air as they burst into their dressing room. They were so excited that they didn't notice Shachou standing in the middle of the room.

"Ah! Shachou!" Kai said excitedly, running up to the president and stopping in front of her. "Ano... I was wondering... Could we meet Hinata in the hospital?"

Riku smiled at Kai and also looked to the president imploringly, to which the woman simply scoffed.

"No need," She said coldly, the two boys flinching slightly at her answer. But before a red-faced Kai could blow up at her, a voice called out from the other side of the room, sounding tired, but chipper.

"Let-me-join-too."

They both blinked as they saw a slender boy approach them from the other side of the room, his long dark hair swept back into a ponytail. He was wearing a white hoodie sweatshirt and blue basketball shorts. But what struck them most was his face; it was boyish, smooth and pretty, and with that familiar, happy grin, they instantly recognized him.

"Denpa?" They shouted, shocked at his newly male appearence. "You... You too?" How the heck had Shachou escaped the security guards to do this for her?

He looked at them, shame written on his face as his eyes misted up. "Shachou... Saved me, and now... I'm like this."

"Oh Hinata..." Kai said softly, wanting to reach out and comfort the boy but thinking better of it as Hinata stepped back to look at them. "I know it's strange... But we'll get through it."

Hinata looked first at Riku then turned to Kai. "Asahi-chan... Nami-chan..." He said softly, looking at them with a meaningful stare as they looked back at him in shock. "I knew it was you guys... When you mentioned angels... And being eighteen. After all, we failed the same audition. I thought it was strange that these guys knew that much about me... But then, Shachou..." His voice wavered a little bit, deciding not to finish the sentence. "Let's just say I understand..."

The three cursed boys looked at each other, an accepting smile forming on all their faces, wordlessly conveying the same message:

Persona was now a three person group.

Saeko gave them all an amused smile and walked into the middle of their little circle, grabbing Hinata about the shoulders.

"From now on... Your name will be 'Kuu', embrace it," She said, for the first time her expression softening to look almost human. "Consider yourself a part of our little family..."

"Inuyama-sama..." He breathed, his voice thickly laden with gratitude for the Inugami. Saeko 'tsked' him and wagged a finger in his face.

"Shachou," She corrected. "Will be the title you call me by while you're here."

Marilyn sighed at the president and smiled proudly. Saeko, despite outward appearances, had a soft heart, but also a keen eye for talent. She had no doubt seen something special in the depressed and suicidal Hinata, and hopefully, being in Persona would bring that something special to shine in front of everyone.

"As expected of the president!" Marilyn cooed, nuzzling up to Saeko's shoulder. The president nodded at her, smirking proudly. This boy would prove to be the last tool needed to reach her ultimate goal.

Kuu turned around and beamed at his two band mates, catching them off guard. The boy who had been within an inch of death was now acting as though nothing had happened, and to top that off, was so excited he was practically bubbling.

"Yay!" He said, grinning as he struck his fist up in a girlish cheer, motioning for the two other boys to join him.

"..." Kai and Riku looked at him with a deadpan expression.

"C'mon, YAY!" He pouted and cheered again.

"..." They sighed conjointly. "... Yay."

He pouted and nudged them both on the shoulder. "Like this." He struck his fist in the air once more. "YAY!"

Kai and Riku looked at each other and shrugged, half-heartedly lifting their arms up. "Yay!"

TBC =)


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Notes ~ Unfortunately the start of chapter three is going to be a bit short. Because of work schedule requirements I wasn't able to finish as much as I really wanted to but had enough there to post an update. I had really wanted to formally introduce Ray to our intrepid heroes, but unfortunately, even kids like me eventually need sleep. Enjoy. Feel free to leave inputs comments, whatever you like, I sincerely appreciate feedback. After all, aside from the personal enjoyment I get from writing, what keeps fics like this going are the readers. Who else do authors write for? Lol.

On a side note, I wanted to mention that in my imagining of Ray as a character, she's an artist, which is what, first and foremost, a musician should be. And to top it off, she isn't quite as ditzy. I figure this much because it takes a lot of brains and confidence to be at the top of your game heads and tails above all others at barely twenty. (Read Hanako's profile. Lawlz. She was twenty when they filmed Mendol.) Oh and the first lines of the song she's singing are from 'Taiyou no Uta'. I thought it fit.

_**Edit:**__ I think I'm going crazy... Haha. I deleted this entire chapter by mistake. Fail._ ¨

Mendol: A Man's World

Chp. 3 Pt. 1

In a luxurious condominium across town, a tall young woman reclined quietly on a white leather couch, looking up at the ceiling as the TV cast the living room in a dull blue glow. She held her cell phone above her face as it blinked red.

She'd missed a call.

Ray covered her face with her hand and exhaled tiredly before getting up and walking towards the open balcony. The night wind blew gently through her hair as she sidled up to the railing and looked at the cell phone with a blank expression that belied the inner war she was fighting with herself. She hung her head sullenly, her eyes faraway as she gazed down at the cars filling the streets many floors below.

She could jump... It would be an easy way to escape the pain, the humiliation, the loneliness... it would take all of a couple seconds.

An ironic smile played on her lips at the thought, and she found herself wondering if that person would even bat an eye if she really did end it. The answer, when she thought about it, made her heart twinge with a familiar ache.

"Of course you wouldn't..." She said quietly, looking to the side and sighing ruefully to herself. "I don't even know why I'd hoped you would remember yesterday..."

It really was ironic that she, who was already a legend in the music industry at barely twenty years old, a woman who truly had everything, felt that she was still left wanting because of one person. In front of that person, she always felt like that gawky, buck toothed adolescent taking the stage for the first time and it was like everything she had accomplished meant nothing...

She slumped slightly, closing her eyes...

It was then that a certain face came to mind. That of a short young man with flashing brown eyes and unruly blond hair. Him... The only person that had ever caught her in a moment of weakness and instead of mocking her, comforted her in her loneliness. Ironically, because of yesterday, he was the only one aside from the one person that really mattered to her, who knew which day her real birthday was.

He even sang to her. And his voice was beautiful.

She blushed slightly as she remembered his soft breath on her skin and felt her heart flutter slightly.

"... Hm?"

She drew in a sharp intake of air and brought a hand slowly to her chest, unsure of the feelings that had begun to well inside her. Frowning slightly, she cast another rueful glance at her phone before walking inside, grabbing her guitar and returning to the balcony.

Ray needed an escape, and music was the only one she had left.

"... Been awhile huh love?" She said, looking down fondly at the well worn 1964 Gibson acoustic guitar. "At least _you_ never left me..."

Settling into an iron wrought patio chair, she looked up at the sky sadly, remembering countless nights back at home where she would sit, look at the moon and wonder if that special someone was thinking about her too. However, in this moment, for the first time in her life, it wasn't that person that weighed on her heart... It was him, and she caught herself wondering what he was doing.

"I wonder if he thinks of me too..." She mused to herself as she brought the guitar to sit on her lap. "I still don't even know his name."

As she thought about him, she found it funny that even now when he wasn't with her, he seemed to chase away the loneliness.

"... My hero." She chuckled slightly and reclined back in her seat, looking at the still-blinking phone in her hand for a few moments and then quietly setting it in on the table next to her. She had wanted to throw the phone into the street... But somehow, she just didn't have the courage.

Sighing tiredly, she lifted her face as a breeze meandered through the balcony, her manicured fingertips softly tapping a beat on the polished spruce surface of the guitar. With his face in mind, she closed her eyes and felt music begin to play within her. Smiling faintly, she strummed a couple experimental notes and quietly hummed a little tune. She had been working this song for awhile now, and though she had the music and notes down pat, she could find no lyrics that quite matched the feeling it gave to her when she played.

It was the memory of that boy's kind and gentle face that finally gave her song a voice.

The wind fluttered past her face as she began strumming in earnest, breathing deeply as she, for the first time in a long time, released her heart into the music.

"_Furuete iru watashi no te ni_," She sang softly, looking at the moon as tears began to pool in her eyes. "_Hajimete kimi ga furete..._"

In the heart of Tokyo, amidst the hustle and bustle of the Ginza district, a tall, dark haired man in a gray suit paused and looked up at a jumbotron with narrowed eyes. A newscast featuring a picture of a bloodied girl laying prone against a tall idol as a bare-chested blonde haired boy desperately tied scraps of fabric to her slit wrists flashed across the screen.

"The injured girl was later identified as Otawa Hinata, a senior at Shirobara Female Academy, and has been missing since she fled the Indies the week before. Through the heroic efforts of Kai and Riku of the amateur unit 'Persona', who was performing during the incident, she was kept alive until the arrival of the paramedics..." The news anchor said gravely, continuing on to further implore the general public to release whatever information they may have on the girl's whereabouts as the screen flashed with pictures of the two aforementioned idols and the girl's weeping family.

The man's lips curled into a sneer, revealing a single, inhumanly sharp fang.

For Persona, the week after the Indies had been a whirlwind of late night TV appearances, promotional events and meet and greets. In other words, work had been almost nonstop the moment their feet had hit the ground. It was a good thing, it meant their name was getting out there, but it didn't mean that they were getting paid. In fact, so far, they had earned absolutely nothing. And in just fulfilling today's schedule they had gone to three TV appearances, danced and sang at each of them and now they were slated to go back to the studio to work on music for their album release. At this point, it looked like they wouldn't be home until almost the wee hours of the morning.

"Gahh... I feel like an indentured servant," Kai huffed, blowing his bangs out of his face as he slipped out of his stage clothes. The day had been a long one, and he was glad to get out of the hot and uncomfortable costume. He looked at his wrinkled white dress shirt with disdain, remembering how Mariko had torn him a new one after it was revealed that he had shredded the custom made piece of clothing to bits.

'I don't care if it was the damn Dalai Lama that was dying in your arms!' She had screeched.

Not that Riku had come away unscathed... His shirt had been ruined too, and because of that they both had gotten an earful from Shachou... That is, until Marilyn stepped in to defend them and wound up getting whipped across the arm. They had been shocked by the act of violence, but then became appalled as it degenerated into the two women making out with each other in front of them. Talk about punishment... Kuu, who was the cause of all this, was probably scarred for life by the incident.

"Damn that stupid crazy evil demented demon 'L' woman!" He shuddered, trying to use every negative adjective he could think of as he remembered that night vivid detail, the way Saeko had practically stripped Marilyn naked in front of them. Images of them rubbing... and kissing and...

He clamped a hand over his mouth, Riku and Kuu looking at him oddly as he turned a sickly color green.

Riku rolled his eyes slightly as he and Kuu also got undressed, Kuu yawning sleepily. "... This sucks." The boy lamented, feeling tired tears sting at the corner of his eyes. Switching genders surprisingly hadn't been as hard as having to deal with the slave driver of Kamonohatsu Entertainment.

The leader of Persona looked at the two sympathetically, especially Kuu. The newly transformed boy had been through a lot, more than most people go through in their entire lives and the tall man had fretted over him like an overprotective older brother. Kuu seemed to brush away the attention though, his infectiously happy and care-free attitude seeming to be his weapon of choice against whatever ailed him. However, there were times when he would catch the boy alone, looking down at his phone with a sad and Kai wordlessly decided not to discuss what had happened at the Indies, figuring that when Kuu was ready, he would talk. Until then, they would just have to be as supportive as they could to their new band mate.

For Kuu, the transformation hadn't been quite as drastic as it had been for Kai and Riku. He was still about the same height and held the appearance of a charming high school age boy who hadn't quite grown into his body yet. In fact, the boy was slender, almost delicate and had an air of gentleness about him that set him firmly apart from the other two. Of course when Mariko had gotten a hold of him, after much crying and fighting (they had practically had to hold down the former Loli.) he finally looked the part of the handsome, approachable idol next door. She had clipped his hair short in the back and tapered it upwards to fall in long flowing pieces that framed his boyish, heart shaped face perfectly. However, in a bold move, she had decided to add streaks of daring dark blue to stand out against the natural pitch black color of his hair. It made him look, for lack of better words, just plain cool.

He gave Kuu a gentle smile and patted his shoulder, the boy looking up at him with a tired expression as he slipped off his slacks. Riku opened his mouth to say something reassuring when he was abruptly cut off by the door to the small changing room flinging open.

"Hey! Hey!" Two guys grinned eagerly at the trio.

Out of instinct born from years of their male peers trying to catch a peek at them undressing they all screamed girlishly, jumping backwards and hiding their bare chests.

The two men blinked at them quizzically. "What's with the screaming like women?" The taller of the two asked, feeling like he had walked into girls locker room.

His friend, not thinking anything of the way the men were acting, immediately shoved a magazine into their shocked faces. "Anyway... We wanted to ask which ones you guys like better, this"- He pointed to a picture of a nude girl with small, pert breasts.

"Or this!" The taller of the two with his hair done into a faux hawk grinned, holding up his own magazine which gave a full frontal view of a naked woman with breasts the size of watermelons.

"OH MY GOD WILL IT NEVER END?" Kai screamed, grabbing his hair with both hands as he shook his head furiously, storming out of the changing room and practically sending the two knuckleheads flying in either direction as he shoved past them.

Riku and Kuu looked at him with slack-jawed expressions. It was Kuu that spoke first. "I wonder if he knows that he's still in his boxers..."

"AGHH!"

Kuu winced, covering his ears. "Guess he does now..."

Riku sighed and shrugged, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Sometimes he had to wonder about the shortest member of Persona...

After they had gotten dressed into their casuals they all settled down at a nearby table and sighed in concert, thinking back wistfully to the day they had all gotten their own dressing room. But after the incident at the Indies had died down they found themselves having to use a shared one. It was weird and a bit embarrassing having to be around so many guys in various states of undress even though they were, in fact, men themselves, but perhaps that only exacerbated the awkwardness of it all.

"Men are the worst..." Kuu said grumpily, leaning over to Kai and lowering his voice to a hushed whisper as Kai nodded in agreement, still bothered to no end by the fact that BOOBS of all things had been shoved in his face. Disgusting!

"Hear hear!" Kai grumbled, shoving his chin into the heel of his palm. A dour look was set on his face until his eyes settled on some shirtless male models on the other side of the room. "Well..." He blushed as a dreamy smile formed on his lips. "Maybe not all of them..."

Kuu followed Kai's line of sight and clasped his hands next to his face, almost swooning. "Men are the BEST!"

"I love a pair of big, strong arms..." Kai sighed, a goofy smile on his face as he leaned against Riku, hugging his well-muscled biceps.

"I want to rub against a man's strong chest..." Kuu gushed, hugging Riku about the waist and burying his face into his band mate's muscular chest.

Riku rolled his eyes as the two gushed, coughing loudly and turning slightly red as they both blinked and jerked away, a bit shame faced.

"Maybe it's girls that are the worst..." The man mumbled wearily. Though even he had to admit that not many men he had seen before could hold a candle to the aesthetic qualities of his new body. Suffice to say, the leader of Persona was less than impressed with the men his band mate's had been ogling.

Suddenly, the door burst open and Marilyn came sweeping into the dressing room, her face charged with an vibrant smile. "Persona's CD Debut has been decided!" She squealed, practically beside herself with pride and excitement for her 'boys'.

They all got up excitedly, rushing to her side. This was why they loved Marilyn. Despite her disturbing relationship with Shachou, she sincerely cared about them and their careers.

"What? Seriously?" Kai squealed in girlish delight, prompting the two men who had raped his eyes with nudie photos to look up at him strangely. He blushed and quickly cleared his throat, bringing his voice an octave lower. "I mean, really?"

"Yes! And to top that off," Marilyn grinned vivaciously, unable to hold down her excitement. Her boys were finally going places! "The distributor is Sunny Music, the label that boasts more sales than all the others!"

Kuu brought his fists to his chest, grinning from ear to ear. "That's amazing!" He squeaked in a high pitched tone, jumping slightly in place, though he paled when the two guys looked at him with raised eyebrows, quickly amending his tone to a depth that rivaled Mufasa of the Lion King. "I mean, that's awesome."

Riku and Kai both blinked in amazement, his voice had been so naturally deep that it was almost like Barry White had come back from the dead.

"Eh?"

Marilyn, still caught up in the whirlwind of emotion, clasped her hands to her face and sighed happily. "As we speak Shachou is bringing an important representative from Sunny Music to meet us!"

Riku quickly shook himself out of his surprise and grinned widely, clapping in girlish excitement. "This is like a dream!"

The two perverted guys threw a look of slack-jawed surprise at the ever-manly looking Riku who flushed slightly and cleared his voice behind a fist. "I mean, uh, it's all so surreal..." He said in his usual suave baritone as he awkwardly smoothed his fingers through his hair.

"It isn't a dream," Kai grinned crookedly, reaching up a hand to pinch Riku's cheek.

"Heehee... I'll take this side!" Kuu said, his eyes glinting mischievously as he pinched the tall man's opposite cheek.

Marilyn giggled coquettishly at their antics and reached out to pinch Riku's nose. "And I'll take this!"

"Stop it Kai! Wha- You too Marilyn? Buncha' jerks!" He exclaimed, pushing their hands away and crossing his arms grumpily as they grinned teasingly back at him.

"What a load!" The man with the faux-hawk groused loudly, making sure everyone in the dressing room could hear him as he looked at Persona through narrowed eyes. "I can't believe a bunch of talentless wannabes like these guys cut a deal! Must be nice having the right connections..."

"Youji!" The other man reprimanded lowly, casting nervous eyes at the idol group as he attempted to shut his friend up.

While his band mates stood there in shock and righteous anger, Kai lowered an even look at the man, putting his hands in his pockets as he walked towards the two, coming to a stop in front of Youji.

"You got a problem or something?" The boy looked down his nose at the man, his eyes flashing in challenge as his mouth set into an angry snarl. Riku and Kuu were immediately at the boy's side, taking both of his arms and trying to hold back the fiery blond as he seethed furiously.

Youji's eyes widened and his eyebrows knit together in a dark glare as he stood up, his friend desperately pulling on his arm, trying to calm the man down before they were both in the shit.

"Watch how you talk to me, chibiko, I've been in this industry for ten years!" He growled, practically spitting with anger as the short blonde's face morphed into a derisive sneer.

"Ha... ten years since your debut? I've never even heard of you!" Kai scoffed, ignoring Kuu as he shook his shoulders, trying to placate his infuriated band mate. "That's some talent you've got there!"

Riku sighed as he stared at Kai's back... That did it. There was no getting through to the brash, quick tempered blonde after that _chibiko_ insult. The boy's shoulders were already quaking with anger and his face was as red as fire. Shaking his head, the leader of Persona stood back and threw his hands in the air, rolling his eyes sullenly.

Kuu looked at Riku incredulously, ignorant of just how badly sensitive their brash young band mate was about his height. Riku just shrugged, now looking resigned as he buried his face in his palm.

"What the HELL did you say?" Youji roared, his nostrils flaring in anger as he brought his fist to bear in front of Kai's face. "You wanna fight shorty?"

"Bring it on jerk!" Kai bit out, clenching both his fists as he angrily broke loose from Marilyn and Kuu's restraining hands, storming out into the hallway with Youji right on his heels.

"Calm down Youji!" The man's friend pleaded, shaking his shoulders.

Kai's eyes flashed dangerously at the man, the boy bright and angry as he tore off his blazer and tossed it on the floor. "C'mon, you said you wanted to have a go chicken head!" He growled, mocking the man's ridiculous faux-hawk as his veins surged with adrenaline. "Let's dance!"

"What the hell did you call me you little asshole?" Youji shouted angrily, shoving his friend out of the way as the short man's heckling finally pushed him over the edge. "I'm getting sick and tired of that cocky fuckin' attitude of yours!"

'... Chibiko? Chicken head? What are we, in grade school? Who the hell gets mad at crap like that?' Riku groaned inwardly, watching the two men with a bored expression as he exited the changing room.

Kuu and Marilyn grabbed Kai's arms once more, desperately trying to reason with the hot tempered blonde. "Kai, this isn't the time or the place! We'll get into some serious trouble if we cause a scene here!" Kuu hissed, Marilyn nodding furiously in agreement.

Riku sighed from the sidelines, leaning tiredly against the wall as men continued to stream out of the locker room and formed a circle around the two combatants. "Yeah... What they said."

"You know what I'm sick and tired of?" Kai said coldly, ignoring his friends as he cracked his knuckles in a threatening manner, ready to smash the guy's dome into the floor. "Friggin' whiny ass bitches like you!"

Kuu, Marilyn and Riku gasped slightly at Kai's uncharacteristically antagonistic and vulgar language.

"Wow... Kai sure is manly isn't he?" Marilyn breathed, Kuu looking at her in astonishment. The boy was about to get beaten to a bloody pulp by a man twice his size and that's all she could think of?

"You wanna die you little punk?" Youji roared, rearing his arm back and thrusting forward in a wild haymaker. Kai sneered, dodging nimbly out of the way and kicking out a leg, tripping him and sending the big man into a collision course with...

"Oh no..." Kai breathed, his eyes widening as he saw that Youji was going to crash directly into Riku.

"KYAAA!" Kuu screamed girlishly, then quickly corrected himself. "I mean- AUUGGHH!"

Unfortunately, another man ran directly in front of Riku just as the tall idol was about to be road kill which resulted in all three men crashing catastrophically against the wall and sliding into a messy heap to the floor.

Kai gasped and ran to Riku's side, shoving the other two men off of him. "Oh my god Riku! Are you okay?" He took the man by his shoulders and shook him wildly, trying to get him to open his eyes. "This is all my fault!"

"... Why yes... Yes it is Kai... You and that stupid brain of yours, or lack thereof..." Riku hissed painfully.

Kai's eyes widened and he held Riku out at arm's length, feeling just the most uplifting kind of relief when he saw that the man, though ruffled and a little bruised, was none the worse for wear.

"You're okay!" Kai exclaimed, ignoring the insults as he immediately enveloped the man into lung crushing bear hug.

"Gaahh! Can't breathe! Need air!" Riku wheezed, surprised at the smaller man's strength as Kai pulled away, blushing slightly.

"He's okay... But I think these guys are down for the count..."Kuu called from a few feet away as the circle of men drew in to look at Youji and the interloper curiously.

"Who is this guy?"

TBC Soon, I promise.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Notes ~ Sorry this chapter came a little late, but at least it's fairly long and on top of that, I listened to your heartfelt pleas and introduced some Kojiyuu action. ZOMG. O_O I may have even snuck in a... *gasp* Kiss scene. And MOOB groping! Muahahahahaha! Oh, and Ray finally gets to meet the boys one on one, but this time, instead of their studio, it's hers. Lol. I couldn't resist, I wanted to see her in the Diva's element and what better way to work around a top selling artist's busy schedule than to do meet and greets at work?

Mendol: A Man's World

Chp. 3 Pt. 2

"I~TE!" The man hissed, recoiling away from the hot towel pressed to his bruised cheek. Marilyn, who was tending to him, gave an apologetic smile while Kai, Riku, and Kuu stood a short distance away, eyes averted to the floor like grade-school children put into a time-out. They had cleared out the men's dressing room and sat the wounded man down in a chair in the middle of the room.

The president of Kamanohatsu Entertainment's expression was blank as she pushed past the three properly chagrined teenage boys and came to a stop in front of the tall, unfortunate fellow. She kept her face turned toward him but she glowered darkly at Kai from the corner of her narrowed eyes. The boy seemed to live to cause trouble...

Kai, whose spider sense picked up the ice cold vibes being radiated towards him, chanced a look up. His soul froze at the murderous stare Shachou had fixed him out of the corner of her eye.

"Eep!" He squeaked quietly, bunching his shoulders together and clenching his eyes shut. Yep, eighteen sounded like the perfect age to start writing up his will. Yessiree bob.

Breathing slowly through her nose to calm herself, Saeko drew her lips into a gracious smile as she bowed deeply to the fashionably permed young man.

"Katsuyuki-san, for such a wound to befall the executive director of Sunny Music..." She paused, once again narrowing her eyes slightly as the boys behind her swallowed nervously. "At the hands of one of my own boys... I offer my sincerest apologies, believe me when I say that this travesty-" She drew out the word slowly, the smile disappearing from her face. "Will never happen again."

"Ara ara... No need Kamonohatsu-shachou," Katsuyuki said, trying to smile back at her but failing horribly as pain shot through his jaw, causing him to hiss like an upset kitten. "I-itai, itai... I mean, after all, it was through your help that my father was able to lead Sunny Music to become what we are today... I came here to personally express our company's, and 'my' gratitude in particular."

The boys looked up at that and gave the man an appraising look. Katsuyuki was handsome, no doubt of that, with his copper colored, stylishly permed hair accompanied by a face that was as refined as it was gentile in expression. To top that off, he was tall, even a bit taller than Riku and dressed in a custom tailored light gray suit paired with a graphic t-shirt with his blazer left casually open.

"He's perfect..." Kuu whispered first, blushing slightly as Kai leaned over and the two exchanged conspiratorial grins.

"And I didn't see a ring on his finger..." Kai said, fighting the urge to giggle coquettishly. "Which means..."

"He's single..." They gushed quietly, though quickly straightened when Saeko threw them a dark glare over her shoulder.

Riku was blushing as well, unable to tear his eyes away from the man's face but stalwartly refusing to join the two giggling idiots beside him. There was a reason he was the leader of the band.

"I would like to take care of Katsuyuki-san too..." Saeko purred, walking to the man's side, slinking an arm around his shoulders while her free hand found its way to his thigh, stroking it suggestively as the man flustered at her forwardness.

Marilyn looked at them with eyes that were wide with shock and no small amount of hurt. She opened her mouth to say something, but then changed her mind and bowed awkwardly as she excused herself from the room, unaware of Saeko's eyes following her back as she left.

Kuu threw a stunned look at Shachou and shook his head, ignoring her narrowed eyes as he turned and followed the secretary into the hallway. Kai and Riku stood there for a moment glancing between Shachou and the door. The woman gave them a knowing look and nodded almost imperceptibly to the exit. The two needed no further prompting as they bowed politely to Katsuyuki and left.

"Where the hell did they go?" Kai asked, looking around at the empty hallway.

"I don't know..." Riku answered, unsure as he put a thoughtful finger to his lips. "But we better make this quick... We're supposed to be in the studio soon."

Kai nodded and sighed, not looking forward to what was to come.

"I guess we'll have to split up then." He deadpanned, trying to come to terms with his fate. It seemed that whenever he was lost in this building either someone was trying to kill him, or he was getting called a pervert and slapped, or toilets attacked him, or random pretty strangers would bathe him after getting attacked by said toilet, or... Gah! Either way wandering around this building just overall was bad for his health.

Riku quirked his lips in amusement as he saw a distressed expression play itself out on his band mate's face, not sure if he even wanted to know what was going through the short man's mind.

"Sure, let's go." He said simply, not seeing Kai bite his lower lip in anxiety as he turned his back to him and jogged down the hallway.

A few minutes later the tall man came to a stop in a particularly large, fairly empty corridor. This part of the building housed electrical rooms and storage units for props, stages and recording equipment. There were a few people milling about, mainly janitors and maintenance men, but no sign of Marilyn and Kuu.

'They couldn't have gone far...' Riku mused, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. 'I guess I'm going the wrong way...'

Which meant that Kai had probably already found them. Relaxing a bit, he reclined his head and sighed, deciding to forgo the search and start walking towards the recording studio. They would meet him there anyway.

As he started making his way back, a sound caught his attention from slightly ahead of him and he was surprised when he saw a good-looking man storm out of one of the empty prop rooms.

"I can't fucking work with this woman, it's freaking impossible, fucking stubborn, no talent-" He was cut off from his rants as he shoved slightly past Riku's shoulder, having not noticed that he as there.

"Be careful, you almost hurt-" He growled, looking up at Riku with a thoroughly irate expression. "Me." With an arrogant huff, the man continued his way down the hall, flinging his arms in the air.

"Eh?" Riku blinked, looking at the man's back, his face a little astounded as he rubbed his abused shoulder absently.

"What's he so butt hurt about?" He asked himself, shrugging his shoulders and deciding he really didn't care as he started walking forward again. "Pompous ass..."

But as he passed the prop room that the man had come out of he paused mid-step, the sounds of crying having caught his attention. Curious, he poked his head into the room and was surprised when he saw a girl sitting on a movie prop bench on the far side of the large storage facility. She had her face in her hands and her shoulders were shaking somewhat.

He drew in a sharp intake of breath and then sighed, looking at his watch, he still had a good fourty-five minutes... With his mind made up, Riku crossed the room, his long legs taking him to her in a couple short strides.

His footsteps caught her attention and she clenched her eyes shut and quickly stood, startling him as she ran to him and hugged him tightly, not bothering to hide her tears as she buried her face in his chest. He looked down at her, dumbstruck, but before he could say anything she started speaking to him in a voice thick with tears.

"I like you so much, it's humiliating... Even if you get mad at me, yell at me, are ashamed of me, don't think I'm good enough, ignore me, scornfully laugh at me..." Her voice hitched on a sob and she continued on in a heart breaking whisper. "Or whether you think I'm an embarrassment and put me down... I like you so much, what can I do?"

Riku's jaw was slack as he looked down at her with an astonished expression, not sure what to do with his arms as they hung in the air uselessly. He could feel her tears wetting his shirt, saw her body shaking with emotion and his heart broke for her... With a resigned sigh, he wrapped his arms around the sobbing girl as he inwardly cursed the man that had walked out on her.

"It's not a crime to like someone..." He craned his head down to her ear to whisper gently, smiling as he took hold of her shoulders and pushed her slightly away from him.

Riku blinked in surprise.

Even though she was casually dressed in baggy sweatpants and a tank top, she was pretty... Too pretty. Her lovely face was flushed with color, her large brown eyes luminous even as they shimmered with tears. Lustrous, tastefully dyed dark brown hair tumbled over her slim shoulders in soft curls as damp, wayward strands of it clung to her face and neck, one catching on the side of her full pouting lips.

Without thinking he reached out and brushed it away, his thumb accidently grazing her lips. As soon as he felt her soft skin under his thumb his eyes flew open and he jerked his hand away, both of them turning red as tomatoes.

The girl immediately came out of her surprised stupor. "... What? That's not the line!" She blinked, her red-rimmed eyes widening at the stranger as a hand flew to touch her lips. "And you're not Jun!"

Riku blinked, stupefied. What had just happened? "Wait... Line?" He asked perplexedly, tilting his head like a curious dog. "I thought you were upset!"

"I am upset! At least my character is," She said suddenly, casting her eyes to a little booklet of papers that sat on the bench. "I was practicing a script before the final screening today... My partner however, well... I guess you saw..." She trailed off, her lips set in a small frown.

"... A script?" Riku repeated, scratching the back of his head. Now he felt like a complete ass... She was just acting! And he had been mistaken for the other actor that had stormed off. "Wow... You're amazing... I really thought you were upset because of that guy."

"Well thank you... Jun doesn't think so... It was sweet of you to want to comfort me though!" The girl smiled prettily at that, her lips pouting outwards slightly as the most adorable dimples he had ever seen blossomed on her cheeks. "And they say chivalry is dead."

Riku blinked as a weird feeling started to well in his chest, but chose to ignore as she stepped back to look at him.

"Wow... You're really good-looking," She said pointedly, her eyes widening slightly.

He laughed sheepishly, unsure of what to say and feeling incredibly awkward.

"Are these real?" She asked, walking forward and immediately sliding her hands under his shirt, clamping them on his prominent chest, the muscles jumping at her touch and filling her palms. Her eyes widened as she squeezed his pecs experimentally. They were like rock hard marble covered in satin beneath her hands and she fought the urge to blush. His chest was...

"Wow... Your moobs are perfect..." She breathed, her eyes shimmering with tears once again as she rubbed the velvet-like skin beneath her fingertips.

He was paralyzed, utter shock immobilizing him. His mouth opened to to stop her, but to his horror, a low, positively indecent grunt escaped his throat instead. She grinned in excitement as she let go and circled playfully around him like a lioness eying a gazelle... That she wanted to molest.

"Ge-get away!" He screeched, jumping away from her groping hands as she reached out for his pert bottom. "What the HELL?"

She looked up at him with a pout. "Aw... Don't be like that Nyan-Nyan..."

He blinked at the nickname, momentarily forgetting how violated he felt. "Nyan-Nyan...?"

"Your ears remind me of my cat!" She said matter-of-factly, grinning charmingly as she reached up and tugged at his ears, having to stand on her tip-toes to reach them. "They're so cute!"

"Quit it already!" He growled, clamping his hands on his ears and turning a dark shade of red. His ears had always been an easy target for ridicule while he was growing up and since then he had always been sensitive about them.

She tilted her head at him and pursed her lips slightly in thought.

"Hey... Since you're here and Jun's not... Do you mind staying and helping me go over my lines? We're midway through the sixth episode of this drama I'm a part of and my acting has suffered because I really don't like the guy playing opposite of me." She walked over the bench and picked up the script, coming back to him and presenting it with a disarming smile.

"Page 56, act 4, line 3. Start there and just read the lines that belong to Azusa and I'll read the lines for Hatsumi." She instructed brightly.

Riku sighed, trying to get his poor heart to settle down and let his reason come to the forefront. The names of the characters sounded familiar and he wracked his brain to remember the current drama they were featured on. After drawing a blank, he looked down at his watch with a raised eyebrow. He still had a good thirty minutes... Why not?

"... Sure, but no monkey business!" He said, his voice disgruntled as he took the script from her hands and began scanning over the indicated pages.

"No monkey business aye!" She chirped, giving him a charming little military salute to which he bristled, feeling his stomach jump uncomfortably.

After about five minutes of reading the short scene, he nodded to say he was ready and set the script on the floor. Sighing in embarrassment, he turned around, inhaling deeply to calm his nerves. She stood there and stared at his back quizzically, after a few moments passed she smiled and was just about to open her mouth to say something reassuring, but then he suddenly whirled on her, anger flashing in his dark brown eyes.

"Tell me, Hatsumi... Do you often hear that you're foolish? That you're stupid and pathetic? You must get that a lot. If you act like this, will he come to you? If you give up your life and beg, do you think you could hold onto him?" He asked bitterly, his fists clenching as he looked down at her through narrowed eyes.

Her eyes widened slightly. She hadn't actually expected him to be able to act well... The girl was touched seeing him doing his best for her, so she decided to return the favor.

"... You know what task in this life that is so difficult that you might fail even if you die trying?" She averted her eyes to the floor, her shoulders trembling. "It's the act of giving someone your heart... But do you know what is even more difficult to deal with than that?" The girl looked up at him, her expression despondent and hopeless as tears slid down her pale cheeks. "It's when you give someone your heart, and nothing is returned to you..."

His dark expression softened slightly and he reached out a hand hesitantly to touch her cheek. She leaned into the touch, closing her eyes.

"Hatsumi... Don't cry for me... I'm an unbelievably horrible person... How awful... You can't imagine. If you knew the thoughts I lived with everyday... You wouldn't want to be near me..." He said quietly, his voice sounding hollow and tired.

Her expression twisted into one of anger and she ran forward and hugged him tightly. "Azusa... It hurts when I don't see you... And when I do, it still hurts... Whether you smile at me, or at someone else, the pain is the same!" She exlaimed, her voice anguished as she grabbed his shirt and buried her face into it, sobbing quietly. "But I can deal with it, I can deal with the pain if you stay... being able to see you and hate you is better than being without you..."

His heart melted slightly at her tears, but instead of returning the embrace he shoved her roughly away from him. She yelped in pain as she hit the floor, looking up at him with a shocked expression. "I don't want to hurt you anymore... I'm not the person you think I am... I don't deserve your sympathy, so just let me go."

Riku turned to leave but felt his breath hitch in his throat as footsteps quickly drummed a beat on the floor and two arms suddenly encircled his waist.

"I'm not letting go of you..." She said into his back, her voice thick with pain. " Until I breathe my last breath, I'm not sending you out of my heart!" Her arms abruptly let go of him and he gasped as she all at once grabbed his face and pulled him down into a sudden kiss.

Escape was impossible.

Sparks flew before his eyes the moment her lips connected with his and his heart stopped, then immediately started beating a furious tattoo against his ribcage. He groaned involuntarily against her mouth as the kiss sent strange and frighteningly intense sensations surging through his body. Kissing her felt like driving a new race car- a pulse-pounding, hair-raising adrenaline rush of an experience.

She smiled against his lips and slowly pulled back to look at the man's blushing, astonished face. "End Scene... I'm Yuko by the way, Oshima Yuko." She chirped, her voice playful as she lifted a finger and poked him in the nose.

"Strawberry... Ice cream..." He mumbled dumbly, touching his violated lips with two fingers.

She tilted her head, looking at him quizzically. "Eh?"

"My first kiss... Tasted like strawberry... Ice... Cream..." He seemed to get choked up at this and looked at her with eyes that simply seemed to ask 'why?'.

"That was... Oh god really?" She exclaimed, making wild placating hand gestures as the man pursed his lips together, looking like he was about to cry. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

He turned around, refusing to look at her. Riku couldn't believe that his first kiss had been with a girl. A perverted girl he'd only known for fifteen minutes! It was unfair... It was all so unfair.

"I'll... I'll make it up to you!" She said suddenly, still dumbstruck by the idea that such a handsome guy had never been kissed before! "I... I honestly thought you had kissed someone before..."

His shoulders shook slightly and he looked at the ground with a sorrowful expression. "Even if it wasn't my first kiss, who kisses random strangers? How could you possibly make it up to me? You know how important a girl's first kiss is? I've been soiled, no one will want to marry me!"

"Your acting was soo good, I got a little carried away, I'm truly sorry!" Yuko bowed, her face flushing red as she continued. "I'll take responsibility and marry you!" She said seriously, her hands closing into anxious fists as he threw her a scandalized look.

"But wait... Girl's first kiss?" She repeated, her voice unsure as she blinked confusedly.

"Er, no thank you and uh, I meant, anyone's first kiss..." He quickly corrected, mentally slapping himself. "Anyway... I've been here too long... I need to get back to work."

Riku then started making his way to the door, glad to be finally getting away from the weird girl, this whole preposterous situation and back to the normal world. Oh wait, wasn't he a high school girl trapped in a man's body being chased down by the Yakuza? What the hell is normal? That thought seemed to depress him even more and his shoulders slumped.

"W-wait!" She called out.

He sighed in exasperation. "What?"

"At least tell me your name lover boy." She said softly.

He winced, blushing furiously.

"Riku." With that, he quickly made his exit.

"Yo Riku! Found Marilyn and Kuu!" Kai called out, waving to the man behind the hallway. "But there's been a change in plans, they postponed our studio schedule so we could meet some big wig!"

Riku looked up, visibly distressed but trying not to show it as he walked up to the brash young man. "Yeah...? W-where?" He asked, cursing himself for stammering slightly.

Kai blinked, picking up immediately that somehow, someway, the tall young man's usually unflappable demeanor had been shaken. "Hey man... What's wrong? Did something happen?" He asked, patting Riku's shoulder.

"Met... Someone... Talk, later?" Was all he could think to say as his rapist's dimpled smile played at the forefront of his mind.

"Um... Sure?" Kai replied haltingly, wondering what could possibly have upset the man this much. He hadn't even been this upset when he had been turned into a guy! The man was absolutely cool under any and all cicumstances. It was almost disturbing to see him like this. However, he'd already made it clear that he was in no mood to talk, so the two walked in silence until they had reached their pre-specified destination, Recording Studio Four. They blinked when they saw a tall female body guard stand in front of the door, her well-toned arms crossed intimidatingly in front of her chest.

"Names and ids." She asked simply, holding a hand out for their workplace IDs.

"Riku." The man said tiredly, handing the woman his TV Tohto ID.

"Kai." The short young man said as he did the same.

She gave an almost imperceptible nod of her head and moved out of the way. But as they walked in, she lifted her sunglasses and looked at their backs, a finely arched eyebrow lifting slightly in curiosity.

"Hey guys!" Kuu called out, waving cheerfully from his seat in front of the mixing table. Kuu smiled widely, gesturing for one of them to sit next to him. The rest of the studio techs seemed too engrossed with whatever was going on in the recording room to notice them.

Riku looked at him quizzically. "Where's Marilyn?" He asked pointedly.

Kuu's expression saddened and he looked down. He hadn't been able to comfort the woman and she had just decided to call it a day, walk off her anger and confront Saeko later about her hurtful behavior. "She... Went home."

The two boys exchanged surprised looks, about to open their mouths but were interrupted by a booming voice from across the room.

"Ahh! There you two are!" They were both surprised by Sarukawa-shachou coming toward them with arms outstretched in a welcoming gesture. "Welcome welcome, make yourselves comfortable, have a seat, she'll be done in a minute, we're just finishing her final recording for the day."

"Her?" Kai asked as Riku lifted his head to give the president a confused look

"_Me._" A soft voice emitted from the speakers.

They both turned their heads in concert to the person who stood in the recording room. She waved charmingly at them with her fingers.

"Her..." Kuu breathed contentedly, leaning his elbows on the mixing console and resting his chin in his palms.

The woman was dressed fairly simply in a gray horizontally striped tank top underneath a simple, long sleeve shoulder-less white shirt coupled with a pleated light denim mini-skirt; her platinum stilettos were tossed carelessly on the floor beside her. She was tall, with long shimmering black hair swept back into a ponytail with a few perfectly placed strands falling into her radiant brown eyes. Her refined and beautiful face was set in a demure expression as she picked up a guitar from behind her and put on a thick set of headphones.

"R-Ray...?" Riku breathed, Kuu nodding furiously next to him as the tall man took a seat. "THE charismatic Diva? SHE wanted to see US?"

"I know right?" Kuu gushed, almost bouncing in his chair as excitement bubbled though him. He hugged Riku's arm, squealing slightly as Ray gave them a gracious smile. "The singer ranked continously at number one for 10 weeks, the super charismatic Diva herself, RAY! In this studio! I think I can die happy now!"

Kai, however, fell silent as he looked at her, his lips parted in surprise. It was Hanako... The beautiful woman he had comforted on the roof. She gave him a knowing smile as she set the guitar on her lap. He blushed at the smile and fought to keep his eyes from going to the floor in sheer shock and embarrassment. The woman named Hanako had been RAY of all people? The number one Diva in all Japan? THAT Ray? He had even sang Happy Birthday to her! How embarrassing... He must've made her ears bleed.

She put a finger to her lips and gave him a tiny wink to which he almost sputtered and fell back. "I'm currently working on covers for my English release album, I hope that you will enjoy my efforts, I'll do my best." She said softly, bowing to them politely as they bowed back.

They waited with bated breath as she strummed a few experimental notes and gave a cute sheepish smile as she noticed that one of the chords was slightly out of tune, quickly adjusting it as her cheeks flushed a lovely red color.

Kuu sighed happily. His idol was almost exactly as he imagined her! Riku gave her a reassuring smile, the experience seeming almost surreal to him as she finished tuning the guitar and came closer to the microphone. She nodded to the studio team and they gave her the thumbs up to proceed.

She closed her eyes and began to strum the guitar in earnest. Her lips were full as she took a deep breath and when she exhaled music was born in a beautiful borealis of sound.

"_She... May be the face I can't forget, a trace of pleasure, or regret, maybe my treasure, or the price I have to pay..._" She sang in almost unaccented English, the underlying power in the Diva's soulful voice unmistakable as she slowly opened her eyes and looked directly at Kai, smiling as she continued. "_She, may be the song that summer sings, may be the chill that autumn brings, may be a hundred different things within the measure of a day..._"

Kai's eyes softened at her and he found himself awestruck at the woman in front of him, her singing was beautiful, her chords impeccable and her smile breathtaking.

"She's... Amazing..." He said softly, captivated by the singer and her chosen song. His English was okay, and he could understand the song in almost its totality... The lyrics were beautiful, though he had to wonder why she was singing about a woman. Perhaps she simply wanted to preserve the original lyrics of the song?

His band mates nodded in agreement as they watched the songstress lose herself in the music, almost otherworldly as she got swept up in the final bars of the song. It almost felt like they were intruding on something very private...

"_She may the love that cannot hope to last, may come to me from shadows of the past, that I'll remember till the day I die!_" Her voice reached a powerful emotional crescendo that took the three member group slightly aback. "_She may the reason I survive the why and wherefore I'm alive, the one I'll care for through the rough, and ready years..._" She paused at the next part of the song, her voice becoming soft and her eyes faraway. "_... Me, I'll take her laughter, and her tears, and make them all my souvenirs, for where she goes I have to be... The meaning of my life is, she, she... Oh, she..._"

Kai studied her face carefully, feeling worry welling up in him when he saw an almost undetectable glimmer of a tear in her eyes. It was then he figured out who she was thinking about when she was singing the song; he subconsciously gritted his teeth, wishing he could beat that guy's face in! What kind of jerk makes a woman like THAT cry? Why I oughta...

He was so caught up in his inner rants that he didn't notice when the door to the mixing room opened and the songstress entered, giving them all a congenial expression as she took her place next to Sarukawa-Shachou. Her eyes stayed fixed on Kai with curiosity written in their mahogany depths.

"Ray is under our management and his currently our company's, and our country's, best selling artist!" He sighed, always proud to talk about his best girl as he pulled a handkerchief out of his breast pocket, dusting Ray as if she were a trophy of some sort. She gave a quiet cough when he didn't stop, prompting her over enthusiastic manager to backpedal away from her sheepishly. Perhaps it was time to scout new agency options...

Sarukawa-shachou began to prattle off an endless list of awards, honors, drama appearances, nominations, anything at all the the Diva had earned under his wing. The boys of Persona listened in rapt attention. Ray, however, gave an appraising look to the three young men before her. The leader was tall, handsome, and gentlemanly, a lot like the men Keiji had tried to pair her up with before and thus she was immediately turned off by him. The one with the blue streaks in his hair was boyish, cute and unassuming, the kind that would eventually get eaten alive in this industry if he didn't grow a back bone. But the blonde one, she noted, was much shorter than the other two, shorter than her even. She caught herself wondering what it was about him that had seemed to make all her problems disappear when he touched her that day. His performance at the Indies had held her spellbound as her eyes had helplessly followed the movement of his rain-slicked, half-naked body. But what had struck her the most were his passionate eyes, blazing with fire behind his sweat soaked bangs. The memory still made the songstress flush slightly.

"Um..." Riku's rumbling baritone voice broke her train of thought and she turned to look at him, he bit his lips and fought hard to keep his eyes confidently leveled on her face. "I'm a long time fan of yours... If you don't mind, could I please shake hands with you?"

She nodded, giving the handsome young man a kind smile, charmed slightly when she saw him conscientiously rub his sweaty palms on his pants before nervously extending a hand to her and she offered her own in turn. Kai and Kuu grinned excitedly behind him, still tickled to death that the top selling artist of their generation saw it fit to not only meet them, but had them privy to a private recording! All negative thoughts Kai had had about TV Tohto were gone like so much dust in the wind.

Unfortunately, before their hands could meet, a tall man in a teal colored janitorial jumpsuit cut in front of Riku and took Ray's hand in both of his own shaking it with gusto. "It's such n honor to finally meet you! I've always been a fan of Ray-sama, ever since I first watched you perform at the Indies four years ago!" He gushed excitedly.

"Hey! What's the big idea jerk?" Kai barked in alarm, grabbing both his shoulders as the door burst open and the bodyguard tromped into studio, her eyes ablaze with anger. Kai blinked as recognition alighted in his eyes. Though the man's face was black and blue, he'd recognize that stupid faux hawk and goatee anywhere.

"Agh! Chicken-head, you're still alive?" He yelped as though he had seen a zombie. It had been only a couple hours since the fight and he was already back on his feet? He immediately jumped back as if he'd been burned, wiping his hands furiously on his pants. What if the man's stupidity was contagious? "What the HELL are you doing here?"

"Chibiko!" He growled, furious that the little jerk from before was there during quite possibly one of the greatest moments of his life. "When there's no studio related jobs for us working stiffs that don't have industry 'hook-ups'," He bit out the word angrily, causing Kai's hackles to rise as Riku put a restraining hand on his shoulder. This fucker had a death wish! "I do whatever odd-jobs I can find at the studio part time."

Not wanting to waste any more time with the little jerk, he turned back to Ray, but his star struck grin disappeared when he saw the ice cold look on Ray's face. She looked at her bodyguard crack her knuckles, ready to drag the man out by his stupid hair. She stared at the woman with a slight frown.

"No need Sayaka, stand down," She said with a dismissive wave, giving the man a gracious smile... If he wanted to meet her, oh then she'd leave him with a memory he would never forget. Sayaka grimaced, feeling sorry for the man, he really didn't know what was coming to him...

"Ray-sama, I've always longed to stand on the same stage with yo-"

"Too ordinary," She said flatly.

"Eh?" Everyone chorused in surpise.

"Or-ordinary?" Youji asked, confused.

She smacked his hands away from her in disgust. Her face was the picture of congeniality, but inwardly she was screaming. Between the abusive phone calls, the maddening depression, and the loss of control over her own career, to have some random peon sneak past Sayaka and have the unmitigated GALL to touch her with the same hands he probably cleaned the toilet with... It was over for the poor man.

"You're too ordinary," She said, her tone light and dismissive as she brushed past him to sit on a nearby couch, crossing her legs coquettishly. "It's like comparing Russian Caviar to fish crap."

Sayaka slapped a hand to her face as everyone else in the room looked at the Diva slack-jawed. Was she bi-polar? Who was this person? Surely not the gracious songstress from before! This side of her personality was a rude awakening to all in the room that didn't know her on a personal level.

"How can crap and caviar be on the same stage together?" She mused, not bothering to even look at the man as she dressed him down, utterly destroying his self-esteem and seeming to enjoy the act. "It makes me sick just thinking about it."

Youji fell quiet, accepting the punishment as his eyes began to sheen with hurtful tears.

"Just give up on that ridiculous dream of yours and do us all a favor and..." She narrowed a glare at him, an ugly sneer twisting her mouth as she prepared her last bomb. "Disappear."

Kai watched her, clenching his fists as anger flared within him; he had grit his teeth and tried to control it, but at this point the woman really, really deserved to get slapped. He couldn't believe he had felt SORRY for this girl. Even _that_ stupid jerk-off didn't deserve this shit!

"Hey you ugly girl! What the fuck is your problem?" He burst out angrily, that last line she said having been the last straw. Ray looked up at him with surprised etched on her face,though she quickly blinked and looked away, trying to hide it. No one had ever dared talk back to her before.

"What the hell's wrong with clinging to a dream?" Kai shouted, clomping toward her and leveling challenging brown eyes down his nose at the Diva. "You might be some big star but I'm not the least bit thankful to someone with such an ugly personality!"

Riku rushed forward next to the fiery blonde, the first one to be able to come out of the shock caused by Kai's words. He could see it already... He knew that the blonde's big mouth would land them into a world of trouble!

"Hey! What are you saying to Ray?" He hissed, rebuking Kai as he grabbed his shoulder and turned him roughly to face him. Kai growled, positively livid. The Diva's behavior simply did not deserve to be defended!

"Lemme go!" He snarled, shoving Riku away and causing the tall man to lose his balance and knock into a table as he fell flat on his ass, upending a glass of water that had been sitting on top of it over his head.

"Riku!" Kuu rushed over to his band mate's side, eyes wide with shock at Kai's behavior while he fretted over his fallen friend.

"Got it?" He roughly grabbed the Diva's wrist and pulled her up in one, smooth, strong motion, glaring daggers at her face as she looked down at the short man, shocked and a little hurt. "You'll live alone as long as you don't fix that fucking attitude of yours!"

"I'M SO SORRY!"

"What the he-" Kai was stopped mid-rant as Shachou suddenly burst into the room, shoving the brash young boy out of the way and bowing apologetically to the Diva in an effort to placate her. They didn't need to make an enemy out of quite possibly one of the most influential people in the music industry! She knew she couldn't leave Kai alone, even for just one second at such an important meeting! That boy seemed to attract trouble like a magnet and rolled in it like a dog in grass. Perfectly in his element.

Instead of getting upset, Ray stood there, dumbfounded as her eyes once again found Kai, who was grumbling as Riku looked down at him through narrowed eyes, growling out that he had deserved it for being such an insufferable jerk. However, before the blonde could get to his feet and cross swords with the Diva again she whirled and exited the room. The tension among the recording staff seemed to immediately disappear with her retreating back and they got back to work in earnest, happy that they had, at least, gotten in the final recording before she had stormed off.

"Ray!" Keiji cried out in exasperation, throwing Sayaka a dark look that said 'This is all YOUR fault' before tearing after his prized talent. Sayaka rolled her eyes at the spineless man, bowing apologetically to the three men and their manager as she jogged after her charge. She was in deep shit, she knew it... She had been tricked by one of Youji's friends and despite her better judgement had followed him when he started exhibiting suspicious behavior. Little known to her, it was then that Youji had taken the opportunity to sneak into the studio. It was her fault, and she would take the blame without complaint, hopefully she wouldn't lose her job over this...

Kai growled, positively indignant. "Why is god-given talent wasted on such a friggin' spoiled princess!"

Saeko promptly smacked him over the back of the head.

"I~TE!" He yowled, rubbing his head as he glowered darkly at her. "What the HELL was that for?"

"Home, now. Studio meeting is cancelled." She hissed, whirling around and exiting the room, her heels clicking ominously.

Both Riku and Kuu came up behind him next, both also smacking his head in concert.

He hissed and looked at them with a scowl. "The fuck? You too?"

"Did you really have to bring us down with you?" Kuu exclaimed, shaking both his fists. "Now we're all gonna get it because of-"

"Your BIG STUPID MOUTH!" Riku growled, the tension from this rather horrible day finally getting to the normally composed young man.

Kai finally looked down, still a bit disgruntled but now thoroughly chagrined. They were right... Between what had happened with physically assaulting the executive director of Sunny Music, to insulting the number one selling artist in Japan, today had been a productive one in terms of absolute mayhem, caused by him.

Tonight was gonna be hell...

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

Author's notes ~ God this took forever to write! _ Anyway, I hope that you guys enjoy the fruit of my labors. Yay for drama! :P

Mendol: A Man's World

Chp. 3 Pt. 4

"Kai... What. The. Hell."

Kai shifted nervously on the couch; sure he was expecting his ass to get chewed when he got home but he hadn't expected his executioner to be Marilyn of all people.

Kuu and Riku watched anxiously from their place at the stairs, like two brothers watching their younger sibling getting yelled at. They dared not say anything lest they wanted to incite the wrath of the normally soft-spoken secretary.

"I can't believe it! I didn't think it was humanly possible to be this DENSE!"

Kai flinched, but fought to keep his eyes leveled on Marilyn's face, crossing his arms in an effort to look unruffled.

Marilyn was positively livid. Between her lover's hurtful antics and the absolute disaster the little blonde tornado had caused at TV Tohto, oh yes, someone was getting it tonight. When they all got home she had been hoping to be able to enjoy a nice calm evening out to smooth over things with Saeko but was faced with dealing with this insanity instead!

"Don't you understand? Ray is not only Monkey Production's face, she is our COUNTRY's best selling artist! You can't just shoot your mouth off in front of her!"

Kai growled at that and leered at her through narrowed eyes, righteous anger flashing inside him. "She's the one in the wrong! The girl was acting like an insufferable bitch! Her studio crew even thanked me!"

"That's not the issue dammit! Do you know that Sarukawa-Shachou can blacklist you in this industry? Then Persona won't be able to find ANY work, and if that happens, you'll be a man for the rest of your life!"

Riku and Kuu paled at the revelation, suddenly not feeling as bad for their cohort as they had been. In his bull-headedness, he had risked their womanhood! Riku huffed and crossed his arms as Kuu rolled his eyes at Kai, leaning in a bored fashion against the wall. Kai was definitely on his own with this one.

Kai stood and faced her, his mouth curled into a self-righteous snarl as he glared at her. "That behavior was INEXCUSABLE, she deserved to get slapped! She was lucky all I did was yell at her!"

"Enough."

Saeko came up behind them, the picture of calm as she took her place beside Marilyn. "It seems no matter what you say to a fool, it's useless, like talking to a rock." She frowned, then brandished a black cat 'o nine tails whip.

Kai's eyes widened at the sight of it.

Kuu and Riku gasped in concert. "A whip? Why does she have that?" Kuu cried out behind his hands.

Saeko leveled sultry eyes at Marilyn who blushed at the sight of it, intimately familiar with the instrument.

"Marilyn..." She purred, putting the whip in her hands as the secretary looked at her confusedly. "Make his body understand..."

Kai gaped, the reality of what they were going to do dawning on him.

"You people are crazy!" He yelped as he whirled around and attempted to make a run for it.

Saeko immedately jumped forward and grabbed both of his arms as she shoved the young man into a prostrated position on the couch with his ass in the air.

"Hey- Let go!" He cried out angrily, struggling against the president as she held him down with almost inhuman strength.

"Do you get it now?" She hissed, nodding at Marilyn and giving the secretary the go ahead to proceed.

Marilyn looked unsure but did as she was told, the whip cracking angrily through the air before landing squarely on Kai's buttocks.

"I~TE!" He howled as a blinding flash of pain tore through his body, white spots floating across his vision as he threw a murderous glare at Marilyn over his shoulder. She shrugged and offered him an apologetic look in turn.

"Again!" Saeko growled, her eyes leering angrily down at Kai as she held the struggling idol down.

Kai stiffened and braced himself as the whip sliced through the air and cracked over his skin once more.

"GAH! Efffff...!" Gasping, Kai gripped the couch so tight that every muscle in his arms were taut and outlined.

"If you do something like this again-"

The whip whistled and found its target once more.

"I~TEEEEE!" Tears stung at the corners of his eyes but he refused to let them fall as he glared up at Shachou.

"You won't be able to sit for a hundred years!" She hissed, her nails digging into Kai's arms.

Kuu and Riku were mesmerized by the sight as they watched lash after lash rain down on Kai's buttocks. The blond was angry and they could see the tears in his eyes, but he was much too proud to let them fall, so instead he would simply cry out, gasp, and curse the President, her secretary and their parentage.

"Should we... Do something?" Kuu asked tentatively, wincing with every crack of the whip. Riku flinched a bit as well, feeling sorry for him, but then quickly remembering that the little blonde's antics could have well had them black-listed and then, god-forbid, they would have been forced to live as men forever. With that in mind, whatever sympathy he had had disappeared.

"It'll be over soon anyway." He said simply, shaking his head as Kai continued to cry out and struggle.

Marilyn shut her eyes, winding up for another lash, feeling abject guilt begin to well in her stomach. However, before the whip could find its mark Saeko lifted a staying hand in the air.

"Consider this a learning experience my 'boy'," She drew out the word condescendingly as Kai glared up at her defiantly, his breath a bit ragged as his buttocks burned like liquid fire. "If you ever want to be a girl again, then you will do 'exactly' as I say, to the letter, or else..."

Kai's stomach dropped at that and he gulped audibly, the reality of the situation dawning on him like a cold splash of water. He was a boy, he couldn't leave even if he wanted, who would take him? His family? Fat chance. His only real shot at getting his life back rested with Shachou. With those humbling thoughts in mind he let his head hang in resignation.

"Good boy." She said, her tone mockingly blithe as she let him go and patted his head like a dog. "Now, in my infinite wisdom, I managed to salvage this travesty by getting you boys an invitation to Fast Club where you'll be keeping Katsuyuki-san company in the VIP lounge for the evening."

Kuu and Riku looked up at that, shock written on their faces. Fast Club was notorious as a sordid playground for the rich and famous. A proverbial Gomorra in the center of Tokyo where only the most beautiful and privileged could hope to even stand in line. Unknowns like them getting vip entry to the club was simply unheard of.

"A-are-itai... You serious?" Kai exclaimed, gingerly rubbing his abused bottom as he pushed himself to his feet, the punishment momentarily forgotten.

Riku and Kuu stood and joined Kai to stand in front of the president, genuine curiousity written on their faces.

"As serious as the plague," She said flatly, leveling serious eyes at her charges. "This night can make us or break us, and so in effect I expect you all to be at your best, so get ready, you leave in an hour."

"An HOUR?" They yelped in concert, turning tail and rushing up the stairs to their dressing rooms. She couldn't have warned them sooner?

Marilyn sighed and rubbed her forehead, taking her place at Saeko's side. "... Spankings, really?..."

"You know what they say, spare the rod..." Saeko said dryly, crossing her arms and staring hard into Persona's backs as they disappeared upstairs.

It was then that Marilyn glanced coldly at Saeko from the corner of her eye, gritting her teeth. "... About earlier..." She said, her soft voice belying the anger seething just below the surface.

Saeko suddenly whirled on the secretary and swept her into a rough and passionate kiss. Her mouth locked on hers, her lips soft and her tongue brazen. Marilyn gasped against her lover's mouth as Saeko's passion melted her, as it always did. Her legs turned to rubber. Pulsating warmth radiated low in her belly and she submitted helplessly, her body almost limp as the president threw her on the couch, gently taking the whip from Marilyn's hand as their lips finally parted.

"... Are... You jealous?" Saeko said breathlessly, sinking down on top of her and sliding her body sensuously along the length of Marilyn's until their mouths touched gently.

"... I love you... You know that right...?" Marilyn said against her lips, turning her eyes to the side as her face flushed prettily.

Saeko's expression became gentle and her voice softened with a tenderness reserved specifically for the woman beneath her. "... Forgive me."

"What else can I do...?" Marilyn sighed, her voice soft and resigned.

Saeko cupped the back of the woman's head and crushed her lips in another soul searing kiss as her hands wandered to the hemline of Marilyn's skirt, hiking it up indecently.

Little did the two know that they had a voyeur standing at the top of the stairwell, his jaw slack and his eyes wide.

"What the freak nasty..." Kai said helplessly, gritting his teeth as he shuddered in disgust, clenching his eyes shut and running back to the dressing room. "I feel like I live at a fucking porn studio!"

Kuu and Riku looked up as Kai rushed back into the room and slammed the door behind him, leaning against it and clutching his chest. He was pale as a sheet.

"I thought you were getting a drink of water..." Kuu said wonderingly, holding out a pair of jeans in front of him, comparing the color against his chosen dress shirt.

"Never 'effin mind..." Kai growled out, his voice a bit shaken. God! Why the hell did he have to be afraid to go down to his own living room? Oh yeah, because there was another live freaking L show going on on the couch. "Remind me to burn that couch in the morning..."

"Oh, they're L-ing again huh?" Kuu said, realization dawning on his face as his mouth drew into a mischievous grin. "I wanna see!"

Kai looked at him like he had grown another head. "Kuu no ecchi! Are you out of-"

Riku grunted audibly, interrupting the two as he rolled his eyes. "Will both of you just get over it and get dressed?" As he pulled an undershirt over his head, another thought occurred to him and he threw them both a wry smile. "... They'll be done by the time we get down there anyway."

Kuu giggled as Kai turned a sickly color green.

The darkness of the living room enveloped Ray like a blanket, as if to shroud her shame as she held her cellphone in front of her.

It was on speaker.

"... Say that you hate me, I want to hear it Ray..."

She opened her mouth to reply, but her throat clenched painfully.

The phone clicked shut almost of its own volition in her hand.

A torrent of emotion washed over her and she backed up until she fell against the wall, her knees going weak. A pained gasp escaped her throat as she slid bonelessly to the floor, screwing her eyes shut as she fought back tears.

"Why...?" She croaked, drawing her knees to her chest and clenching her teeth so tightly that she feared they might crack. "Why can't I say it...?" Frustrated, she threw the phone across the room, hearing it crack against the floorboards as the battery case fell apart.

"Honey I'm hoo~me!" A voice called from outside the apartment.

The sudden opening of the front door drew her attention and she looked up to see who it was, only to be suddenly blinded by all of her living room lights coming on at once.

"Ray, why are you sitting in the dark like a vampire? it's creepy!" Mariko huffed, kicking off her shoes at the door and walking into the living room. Her playfully annoyed expression transformed into one of shock when she spied the songstress slumped against the wall. Without thinking twice she rushed to the girl's side.

"Ray honey... Are you okay?" Her voice was laced with worry as she reached out and soothed her fingers through the girl's hair.

Ray looked up at her, and the expression on her face made Mariko's heart break.

The stylist saw her, not as Japan's number one Diva, but as her best friend, sitting in front of her struggling to retain her composure. But tears were slipping through, burning paths down her cheeks to fall soundlessly into her lap. She wasn't strong enough to keep it in, to hold it back. She was breaking. And soon enough, the floodgates burst open and she wept helplessly, burying her face in her knees.

Mariko immediately took Ray into her arms and the songstress fell into her, the girl's heartwrenching sobs muffled into her best friend's chest. The woman held her, held her as tightly as she could, rocking her gently and feeling her pain, a terrible hurt that couldn't be comforted.

"Don't tell me... You got another call?" The stylist rested her chin on Ray's shoulder, feeling a familiar anger flare within her.

Ray didn't say anything, just clenched her eyes shut and buried her face deeper into Mariko's chest, as if she could hide from the world.

"... I'm so sorry Ray..." Mariko said slowly, her eyes downcast as hopelessness and feelings of futility replaced the anger. She couldn't do anything but be there for Ray... If she could, she would kill the mother fucker herself, but Ray was still helplessly in love, and in the tug of war between the two, that other person always inevitably came out on top.

"Mariko... I want to die..." Ray croaked out, her voice pained and thick with tears. "It hurts... It hurts so much... I don't know how much more I can take..."

Mariko stiffened and her arms tightened protectively around the girl.

"Shh... It's okay, you're okay, I'm here... I'll always be here..." She said soothingly, rubbing Ray's back as the girl sobbed into her. "I know you won't hear it, but that scum bag isn't worth the tears hun... I'll tell you what, how about we get out of here?"

Ray peered up at Mariko, her eyes red and shimmering. "G-*hic*get... out?*hic*" Her voice was broken by intermittent hiccups as Mariko lifted her head up to look down at her, smiling gently.

"You're Japan's Number One Diva for crying out loud, you've sold out venues from Tokyo to Los Angeles, you don't need to sit here crying alone in the dark... Let's go out. Get your mind off things." Mariko offered, hoping to bring the girl's spirits and confidence back to life.

Ray roughly swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, ashamed that she had been caught like this. Mariko knew about the harassment but at Ray's insistence had kept her distance. The songstress had always put up a strong front; no tears... But the depression, the loneliness and anger had been slowly chipping away at her, crumbling defenses that had taken years to build.

Her eyes turned to her cell phone, broken on the floor and somehow her resolve strengthened. She needed to forget. Being the damsel in distress just wasn't her style.

"Let's go." She said simply, her voice firming as Mariko grinned, taking the girl's hands as she lifted her up to her feet.

"Hell yeah, let's turn that Diva swag back on." The stylist said, hooking an arm around Ray's shoulders. Ray sniffed and turned up her nose.

"Turn on my swag?" Ray looked scandalized. "It never turns off."

"Oh yeah? Then which whip are we taking out tonight?" Mariko said, laughing slightly. "The Maserati? Or -oooh... Speaking of swag, how about the Phantom? It's fitting because, if I remember correctly-" She wiggled her eyebrows and grinned. "-a Diva is a female version of a-"

"Hustler." Ray said, rolling her eyes at the reference to the consummate Diva's anthem as she shook off Mariko's arm and disappeared into the bedroom.

"We're taking the Phantom by the way." She called out from behind the door. "Keys are by the fridge, oh and please, call Sayaka."

Mariko rolled her eyes and sighed, her voice slightly relieved. Ray seemed alright, and dammit if she wasn't going to make sure that her best friend was going to have the time of her life tonight. With her resolve strengthened, Mariko ran to the bathroom to readjust her make-up.

Yep, tonight would definitely be a night they would never forget.

Kuu bit his lower lip, feeling a bit uncomfortable in their opulent surroundings. He came from a well to do family but this hotel was on a completely different level. The lobby was, for lack of better words, magnificent. It was spacious and modern; set with high vaulted mosaic ceilings, pale off-white marble flooring and trimmed with towering wooden pillars made of solid mahogany adorned with gold accented lamps. They had all arrived by taxi and were honestly a bit embarrassed as the parking attendant opened the door for them while they witnessed other hotel guests arriving in stretch limos and luxurious foreign automobiles. They were all hopelessly out of their element, but at the very least looked dressed for the part they were to play for the evening.

Riku was, as usual, the picture of an affluent gentleman. He wore a grey Burberry suit with peaked lapels paired with a charcoal colored collar-less shirt made from egyptian cotton. His perfectly coifed black, red-streaked hair fell over dark, reflective Prada aviator sunglasses, tying nicely with a tungsten Rolex watch and black patent leather shoes.

Kai, ever the bad-boy, wore a rugged off-black, military style double breasted jacket left open coupled with a black tie, untucked white dress shirt and dark, custom-fit straight leg jeans loosely tucked into stylish, black leather boots. His blonde hair was carelessly tousled and he had a gun-metal colored roman cross strung about his neck.

Kuu, compared with his band mates, took a complete 180 insofar as his style choice. A white leather motorcycle style jacket fell over a white, v-neck graphic tee outlined with renaissance style angels paired with white jeans and taupe colored suede ankle boots. Thick, white rimmed fashion glasses and a platinum, long chained necklace with angel wings tied the look together. All in all, the three, once they were in the hotel, looked like they belonged there.

"I can't do this..." Kai whispered, nudging Riku as he fidgeted nervously. "He's looking at us like we're criminals..."

"Shh..." Riku hissed through his teeth, readjusting his dark rimmed glasses and looking away.

They stood in front of a gold plated elevator with a formally dressed doorman going over a list of names in a binder, looking up at them every now and then skeptically. Fast Club took up the entire top floor of Tokyo's Ritz Carlton Hotel and had an elevator specifically reserved for entry there.

"Ahh... Here we go, 'Persona' right?" The door man said, flipping down a paper in his binder and looking at them pointedly, still a bit skeptical. He had never heard of these guys in his life. How the heck had they gotten a invitation to-

Suddenly, a couple high-pitched squeals resounded from the other side of the lobby and they all looked up simultaneously to see what the commotion was about.

"What the heck...?" Kai mumbled, tilting his head as he saw the couple paparazzo that had been milling about the lobby seem to magically quadruple in number as they rushed the door. The reason for the excitement presented itself in the form of a black Rolls Royce Phantom gliding to a halt at the hotel's entrance.

Kuu's mouth dropped, his eyes almost falling out of his head.

"That car... Is worth $400,000..." He breathed, he had never seen a real Phantom in all his life and was almost sickened by the fact that that much money could be personified in a single object.

"Seriously?" Kai said, his eyes widening, suddenly very curious as to who was the passenger in that vehicle. His father could have bought their house ten times over with that kind of money!

Riku looked on with an expression of interest. He was impressed for sure, but not shocked, they were, after all, in front of the private entrance to Fast Club, their generation's Studio 54.

Looking through the glass entrance, they spied a tall female driver dressed in a black leather trench coat get out and turn to pull open the rear suicide door. A tall, glamorous woman with short brown hair stepped out of the car, smiling at the cameras and wiggling her immaculately manicured fingers at the paparazzo swarming around her. She was decked out in a tight black shoulder-less dress paired with matching open toe Jimmy Choo stilettos. She turned around and bent to offer her hand to the other passenger in the back seat. A few moments later appeared a graceful, denim enclosed leg adorned with a black, ankle high D&G stiletto boot. As the woman rose out of the car, a wave of excitement seemed to roll through the crowd and they rushed around the vehicle, cameras flashing furiously. Four large men waiting at the entrance of the hotel quickly joined the female bodyguard to form a circle around the two women, obscuring them from Persona's view.

"Ahem... Gentlemen, if you please." The doorman said, gesturing to the now open elevator.

Snapped out of their stupor, the boys quickly shuffled inside.

"You know.. I could have sworn that was Mariko-san..." Kuu mused, putting a finger to his lips as he watched the massive glass doors finally open, the bodyguards pushing through the crowd to make their way to the elevator. The doorman, noticing them, immediately thrust out a hand to hold the elevator's doors open, not even bothering to look at the guest list.

"Nah, you must be- Oh my god..." Kai trailed off, his eyes bugging out as the protective circle around the women parted at the entrance, revealing Mariko and her tall, gorgeous companion.

"... You..." The woman breathed, her eyes wide as she took off her white Chanel sunglasses to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Her stomach squeezed uncomfortably as a frown creased her lips.

"Ray!" They all said together, Kai falling back against the rails of the elevator in surprise. Of all the people to show up tonight... The insufferable Diva had to make an appearance. She 'had' to have hated his guts for the scene he had caused earlier in the day. And why the hell was she with Mariko?

Ray looked about to say something, but then quickly got in the elevator and turned around, staring out the door and choosing to ignore the three as she gathered her thoughts.

'Interesting...' Sayaka, who stood at the forefront of the group, looked at her quizzically before raising a knowing eyebrow at Kai. It was strange that the normally prickly natured Diva seemed almost... Shy around him. It was an odd, but not unwelcome change of pace. '... Who knows? Maybe things might finally get a little easier around here.' Giving an almost imperceptible smile at the thought, she turned and gave the other bodyguards instructions to stay on the ground floor until the next elevator arrived. Getting inside, she put on her normally stoic facade as she stood in the corner of the elevator.

Kai sighed quietly in relief, looking at the floor as a thousand questions ran through his mind. One, why was she here, how did she know Mariko and how the hell could he get away? And really, what were the odds of meeting arguably the most famous woman in Japan, not once, but twice in the same day immediately after insulting her? But then again, with his karma... Anything was possible.

Mariko rolled her eyes at the three, tossing her purse over her shoulder.

"You gotta be kidding me, isn't it past you kids' bed time?" The stylist said drolly, fighting the urge to laugh as all three blushed simultaneously at the jab.

"Who are you to talk? Don't senior citizens have a curfew?" Kai sniffed, still incensed at the fact that Mariko had never apologized for making fun of his height.

"Look here Pikachu, I'm off working hours and would like to have a nice girls night out, so shut the trap!" She grunted, pushing past the blonde and getting in the elevator as he growled at her.

"P-Pikachu? Who the HELL are you calling PIKACHU?" He screeched, his feathers now thoroughly ruffled as Kuu and Riku snorted with laughter behind him. With his blonde hair, short stature and cute, angry red cheeks, he really did look a bit like the little yellow Pokemon.

Mariko looked bored as she lifted a finger and pointed at him. "Ehem, Pikachu, I choose you." She said dryly.

At that, even the ever aloof Sayaka cleared her throat a bit to mask a chuckle.

Kai sputtered and wagged a finger at her but was interrupted by a quiet giggle from behind him followed by the hiss of the elevator doors closing. He blinked and turned to look at Ray who immediately quieted under his gaze though still had the barest hint of a smile on her lips.

"It... It's not funny..." He said lamely, finding the fight draining out of him as his eyes fell on that smile.

He could hear Mariko and his band mates snicker behind him but found himself hopelessly distracted. As his eyes grazed over her he felt his face begin to flush uncomfortably. He couldn't deny that Ray was beautiful -hell, she was gorgeous- and tonight, if it was possible, she seemed even more so.

Her dark hair, long and shimming, fell over her shoulders in a waterfall of midnight. Dark eyeliner and smokey eye-shadow accentuated her naturally dark eyes and pale pink lip gloss drew his attention to her full, luscious lips. A tightly fitted black leather jacket was layered over a low cut white camisole with dark, fashionably ripped skinny jeans that stretched provocatively over her curves with even the slightest movement; black, spike heeled Italian leather ankle boots extended the length of her legs and made him, (if it was even possible.) even more self-concious about his height.

"Really guys? No wonder we haven't moved!" Mariko groused a bit as she noticed that no one had hit the floor button.

"Oops..." Kuu said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he walked forward and pressed the button. "Thought I did!"

As he turned back from the button panel, he looked at Mariko curiously. "Sooo... How do you two know each other?"

"High school." She said simply, to which Ray snorted derisively.

Kai, however, didn't even notice them talking.

'Look at something else dammit!' He thought desperately, clenching the rails of the elevator and turning his eyes downwards.

Big mistake.

His newly male instincts drew his gaze from her shoes and then slowly up her legs to finally settle on her-

'Oh dear god...' Horrified at what his eyes had settled on, he desperately looked back upwards, cursing his new body as he felt blood rush to his face. He wasn't an L dammit! But unfortunately as far as gender preference, this new body seemed straight as a board.

As if feeling his gaze on her, Ray blinked and her eyes flickered curiously toward him.

His stomach lurched in time with the sudden upward movement of the elevator as their stares connected. He bit his lip, finding it impossible to look away.

She gave him an odd look, her cheeks flushing slightly red as she remembered what had transpired in her studio just a few hours before.

"You'll live alone as long as you don't fix that fucking attitude of yours!"

His words earlier had shook her to the core. No one, no one, had ever openly criticized her like that. As long as she kept making money, no one had ever needed or cared to... That is, no one except...

Ray suddenly tore her eyes away from Kai, suddenly feeling exceptionally uncomfortable as her heart fluttered in her chest. Though oddly, despite her discomfort she found herself wondering if he was still angry at her.

Mariko stared at the exchange between the two, intrigued. If she hadn't known any better, she could have sworn that Kai had been staring at Ray's moneymaker. And no, she wasn't talking about her face.

Grinning slyly, she leaned over to whisper in Kai's ear. "... Stare all you want, but if you touch it she'll bury you."

'Dammit!' Kai's ears turned red and he turned to look at her in irritation and more than a little embarrassment as he opened his mouth to say something in rebuttal.

Unfortunately before he could make his snappy come back the elevator dinged, announcing it's arrival on the top floor. The blonde blew out a relieved breath as the doors hissed open and he quickly made his exit, eager to get away from the beautiful-

'Ugh! Not beautiful- She's a friggin' spoiled princess remember?' His thoughts were a jumbled mess and he found himself once again thoroughly hating his life and asking himself what he possibly did to deserve such punishment. In doing so he did what all people in denial did and attempted to rationalize a thoroughly irrational situation.

'I'm a boy, boys like girls. Generally. Boys like attractive girls. Generally. So of course this new body would take to her! It's all against my will. It's all stupid male instinct! Testosterone and all that noise right?' He thought, hitting his fist in his palm with a grin. Yep! That was his story and he was sticking with it. He was definitely NOT an L.

Calming slightly, he looked to the side and saw Riku and Kuu approaching him with matching strange looks on their faces.

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Riku grumbled, looking down at him as he took off his sunglasses and hung them on the lapel of his jacket. "Do you really wanna piss her off again?"

"There's nothing wrong with me! I want to just get on with this stupid party and go home." Kai snapped, crossing his arms irritably as he proceeded into a hallway that was dark except for blue running lights that pulsated with the beat of the music that echoed in the walls.

As they came to the end of the corridor Kuu suddenly grabbed onto Riku's arm as his eyes widened at the sight sprawling out before them. He had had a good feeling about this place since he could literally 'feel' the bass from the dance floor start to reverberate in his chest as soon as he had stepped out of the elevator.

"Wow... This place is... Wow..." He said eloquently, grinning. He loved to dance, and by the sound of it, the DJ was hot tonight. But that was only to be expected at one of the most exclusive night clubs in the world.

"You got that right..." Riku said, whistling in appreciation as he looked around.

The atmosphere was dark and almost surreal under the pulsating lights and the synthesizer-driven chug of music that surrounded them.

Fast Club's motif was contemporary and modern, all clean lines, sharp angles and an assortment of odd, almost otherworldly decor to accentuate the club's space age look. Decor that included a whimsical, brushed aluminum mock-up of a rocket ship hanging from the ceiling with strobe lights streaming from its 'launchers'. And yet, even more astounding than the club's interior were the faces... Faces that included movie stars, celebrity personalities, comedians, millionaires, you name it, they were here tonight.

"Is that... Oh hey is that Oshima Yuko?" Kuu squealed, jumping up and down as he spied the pretty actress at the bar, winking at the bartender as she took a shot and slammed the cup on the counter as the people around her gawked in surprise. There was a line of four empty shot glasses behind it. "I recognize her from that live action remake of Hot Gimmick!"

Riku's soul froze.

'It can't be... Not twice in the same day...'

He slowly inched his head around to furtively look in the direction Kuu was looking at.

'... Oh no...'

It was then that his worst fears were affirmed. There, in a tight denim mini-skirt, white shoulder-less chiffon top and matching white stilettos was his dimpled rapist.

"Strawberry... Ice cream," He mumbled unconsciously, touching his lips as he bristled inwardly.

Kai and Kuu looked at him strangely, but before they could ask any questions two large hands clapped down on both their shoulders.

"KYAAA!" They squealed in surprise and jumped backwards only to be met with Katsuyuki's sheepish face as he held up his hands in a placating gesture.

"Whoa whoa... What's with the screaming like girls?" He chortled, looking at them with a charming, half cocked grin as he extended out a hand to Riku. "Men amongst men remember?"

"Whoo... You scared us!" Kuu exhaled in relief, clutching his chest.

"Sorry, didn't mean it I promise." He laughed a bit, the sound low and pleasant.

The two boys fought the urge to sigh at the executive director, who was immaculately dressed in a dark, rugged set of jeans, white v-neck t-shirt, and designer grey flannel blazer. Tonight his stylishly permed hair was pulled back into loose rattail, giving him a roguish aura that put a certain edge on his otherwise clean cut demeanor.

Riku returned his own debonair smile as he reached out and gave Katsuyuki a firm, manly handshake. "Nice to see you again Katsuyuki-san, I really wanted to apologize for what happened earlier today..."

The taller man fought the urge to blink as he caught himself staring at that smile and the way Riku's lips upturned his cheeks into just the slightest little dimples.

Katsuyuki's grin also faltered a bit when Riku shook his hand. It had felt like a spark had run its course up and down his arm and he quickly let go, a bit unsettled. "Erm... Uh, no, no problem, all is forgiven, it was only an accident after all. Anyway, come with me, I have a room in the back where we can all sit, chat, have a couple drinks, you know, fun stuff."

The Executive Director was a bit red faced as he ushered them through the crowd and toward the VIP section... Which, in this place almost seemed like a given, since you needed to be a VIP just to get your foot in the door.

Kai felt exceptionally uncomfortable as he weaved through the sea of dancing bodies. The scent of alcohol and stale smoke was stifling, made worse by someone breezing past him wearing far too much cologne. Almost choking, he buried his nose in his jacket.

'I guess some things never change no matter which club you go to...'

When approached their destination, a large, intimidating bouncer unhooked the velvet rope to the VIP section without even a sidelong glance.

As they finally entered, they found it hard not to gawk slightly. The VIP lounge was, if it was possible, even more impressive than the rest of the club. Tube lights shifting from blue, to purple to red, to green lined black leather and brushed aluminum walls. Several black and white wrap around couches sat around small tables. The bar here was only slightly smaller than the one of the dance floor and outfitted with with black granite counter tops, matching black leather bar stools and glass cabinets that showcased exceptionally expensive alcohol.

The three looked around, trying not to stare too hard at the people in the lounges. Beautiful people, left and right. Almost every face was recognizable in one form or another. But perhaps what was more shocking was their behavior. In just the table next to them they could see someone recognizable as a popular action movie star snorting lines of blow from the table as his equally drunk, equally high entourage howled with laughter. Everywhere there was drugs, alcohol and debauchery.

The boys of Persona were now 'officially' uncomfortable in every way possible.

Katsuyuki seemed unconcerned as he led them to his reserved lounge.

"Anyway, I wanted you to meet the man of the hour," He pulled back the curtain to the lounge and revealed a scene that made all three men turn a lovely shade of red.

There on the couch sat a tall man sipping a glass of champagne as a voluptuous raven haired beauty straddled his hips, nibbling his neck as she ground her body suggestively against him. The man looked up over the rim of his glass as they came in and smiled, giving the girl a quick smack across the ass before he leaned into her ear and whispered something inaudible.

She blushed and giggled vapidly before getting to her feet to leave the room and looking curiously at the boys as she passed. They flustered a bit as her eyes slowly ran their course from their feet to their faces and she smiled, winking and blowing them a kiss on her way out.

Kai growled and caught the kiss, throwing it on the ground like a cigarette and stomping it before wiping his hand on his pants. Kuu and Riku shook their heads in exasperation.

"I swear Azusa, you go through women like socks!" Katsuyuki laughed, not noticing the exchange going on behind him. "Whatever happened to that smokin' hot Brazilian chick from last time?"

"What can I say? I'm a silver-tongued devil whose split more peaches than a porn star." He said roguishly, running a hand through his hair in a nonchalant gesture.

"Split more peaches huh? That's a good one!" The executive director barked a laugh, putting his hands on his hips.

'Azusa? Who is this guy? And what the hell does splitting peaches mean?' They all thought, blinking at the man as he stood to his feet.

For a supposed player, the man wasn't exactly imposing in any way. In fact, though a bit tall and dressed in a black suit that was probably a high end designer exclusive, he was slight of build and had a pretty, almost feminine face framed by choppy, sun-lighted brown hair that fell in sweeping pieces in the front and was tapered short in the back.

But the most striking feature about him were his eyes; unmistakably almond shaped but colored a startling hawk grey.

He grinned charmingly at them as Katsuyuki hooked an arm over his shoulders.

"This, my friends, is the great Shimizu Azusa, current chair of Sony Music Japan," He proclaimed, always proud to talk about his best friend. "And half-japanese to boot."

"Oh p'shaw, you give me too much credit, I'm only here because I inherited the position," Azusa humbly brushed off the grand introduction, motioning for the boys to sit as he did so himself. "So... These are the new talents you were talking about?"

As they all sat, Riku in the middle, Azusa reached for the bottle of Dom Perignon and began to pour them each a glass.

"Yep, would you believe that these guys are heroes? At their debut they saved some crazy chick who to kill herself in public!" He said, giving Riku a congratulatory pat on the back and encouraging him to introduce himself.

"Oh I heard about that..." Azusa said, putting a long, slender finger to his lips in thought. "The photos on the news were pretty gruesome... They said she escaped right?"

"Yeah but they never found a body..." Katsuyuki added wonderingly.

Kuu went pale, looking at the floor shame-faced as he subconsciously began to rub his wrists. Kai, frowning as he noticed Kuu's distress, reached over and stroked his back encouragingly with one hand.

Riku almost froze. Azusa was the head of Sony Music? Dear god who was next? The Prime Minister? Trying not to panic he bowed quickly and gave the man his best smile.

"Osu!" He said cheerfully, butterflies in his stomach. "I'm Riku, and this is Kai, and Kuu. " He then gestured first to the short young blonde, then to Kuu as he picked up his glass and sipped at the expensive champagne.

They both nodded their heads respectfully. "Osu." They said, their voices seeming a bit drained.

Azusa gave them an appraising look as he took another sip of Dom. As chairman of Sony Music's board of directors, he rarely, if ever dealt directly with the talent in his company. However, that didn't mean he had no eye for it. Oh no, at heart he was a business man and a damn good one at that. He could already tell that these three were destined for success. Firstly, they were handsome, the pretty kind of handsome that sells albums. Each and every one of them appealed to a different sector of the market and that was definitely a plus for their parent company. On top of that, they were all truly talented. Azusa remembered watching a part of their stunning Indies performance on a newscast, though noted that strangely Kuu wasn't there during the band's debut.

Either way, it was a shame he hadn't signed them up first...

Raising a curious eyebrow at Kuu, he upended the last of the contents of his glass in his mouth. Kuu, still staring down at the floor, didn't notice the man looking at him.

"Anyway it's a pleasure to meet you all!" Azusa said cheerfully, putting his empty glass on the table and filling it up once more. "Now, without further ado, let's get this party started."

Clapping his hands, they all watched as the curtains flew open and a line of scantily dressed girls filed into the room.

"Ooohh... Look at you!" One of the girls in the front who had short, bouncy brown hair and equally bouncy er -assets bound in a tight black corset, rushed to Kuu with two other girls on her heels. The boy looked like a kicked puppy and so had immediately drawn their attention.

Kuu's eyes widened as the girl's formed a circle around him.

"Uh... Um... Hi?" He squeaked, more than a little freaked out when the brown haired ringleader bent down in front of him, exposing ample cleavage that was practically spilling over the top of her corset as she winked down at the young man.

"He's so cute! Almost like a girl!" She said, glomping him excitedly and smooshing his face into her chest. "He's exactly my style!"

"Emiko! Don't hog him! Sharing is caring after all..." Said a petite, long haired beauty that sidled up next to Kuu, practically purring as she affectionately touched his hair.

"MrrpphhMrrrhhhppHH!" Kuu flailed his arms, his face turning beet red as he began to suffocate between the woman's massive dirty pillows. Her friend's ministrations were no help either and only served to bring the poor boy ever closer to massive cardiac arrest, or asphyxiation, whichever came first.

"Live it up boys! Tonight's on me!" Katsuyuki proclaimed, grinning as he kissed a pretty brunette on the side of her neck.

"Thanks... A bunch." Riku said sardonically, his eyes widening as an obviously intoxicated long haired hostess flopped into his lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

She batted her eyes prettily at him. "You're a new face... Been here before big boy?"

Riku yelped as he felt her hand slide down his chest to squeeze his inner thigh. "GAHH! As flattered as I am ma'am you don't-"

She nuzzled her face into his neck at that, giggling slightly. "Ma'am? That's so cute! Ladies it seems we have a gentleman in the building~!"

To Riku's horror, even more girls seemed to gravitate to him at that proclamation and he flustered desperately, trying to politely push the woman off his lap.

"Oh god! Let go of meeee!" Kai, the shortest of the three, had girls swarming all over him, poking, prodding, kissing, and touching. "Argh! Hentaaiii! Don't touch that!"

"HELP... ME..." Kuu sat pinned underneath at least five girls as they gushed over how cute he was.

"Relllaaaxxxx..." Azusa drawled, grinning like a cheshire cat while wrapping his arms around two beautiful girls as a third one sat between his spread legs, rubbing her face on his thigh suggestively. "Just let it happen..."

The girls continued to gush excitedly among themselves as they picked their favorites and pounced on them.

"Jesus Christ, what the HELL was that?" Kai swore, stumbling a bit as he tore away from two gorgeous women that were clinging to his jacket. His heart felt like it was about to fall out of his chest and his head was swimming. When he was told that he was to keep Katsuyuki-san company in the VIP lounge he really hadn't known what exactly was in store for him. If he had, he would have just stayed home. Screw whatever Shachou wanted! Crazy L woman... She might as well have been their pimp for all the crap they went through for her.

Apparently, Azusa and Katsuyuki's idea of a good time involved plenty of alcohol and half-naked women. They had all sat there, helpless as the hostess' swarmed all over them, pressing drinks and... Other things into their hands.

Kai shuddered as he nodded faintly to the bouncer who opened the velvet rope in front of him. Kuu and Riku ran up behind him, out of breath and grateful that they had finally escaped. If they ever saw breasts again it would be too soon!

"Dear god... I thought I was gonna diiiee..." Kuu muttered unhappily, noting that somehow in the last hour they had been there, his jacket had been lost and belt undone.

"Who are you tellin'?" Riku griped, buttoning up his open dress shirt and zipping up his pants. "I need some fresh air, I'll be back."

The tall man huffed in irritation and whirled around, disappearing into the crowd and towards the large, open air balcony on the other side of the club.

Kai blew out an exasperated puff of air. This night, like the rest of his life, seemed to be going down the tubes. "Let's get some water..." He sighed, turning towards the bar.

"Sounds like a plan!" Kuu said cheerily as they sidled up to some bar stools.

An assortment of drinks were already laid out on the bar and Kai immediately latched onto two tall glasses of water and slid one of them down to Kuu.

They both immediately slammed back the glasses into their mouths, chugging deeply and finishing at the same time. After an hour spent fighting off the advances of what had to have been at least twenty scantily clad women they had both built up a powerful thirst.

"Whooo... That hit the spot." Kai sighed in satisfaction, feeling the liquid still sitting cold at the bottom of his stomach.

"Definitely..." Kuu said, bringing his hands to his cheeks as he felt his face heat up for some reason.

"Whoa, take it easy fellas!" The bartender slid over to them, his eyes wide at their empty glasses. "You guys have something to prove? Those were glasses of vodka on the rocks."

"Say whaaaatt?" Kai's mouth dropped in shock. He could already feel the alcohol rushing to his brain like a shot and cursed inwardly. 'Oh fucckk...'

"Ya know wha...? I think... I wanna dance..." Kuu said slowly, really slowly as he got unsteadily to his feet.

"Oh no you don't~!" Kai said, getting up but then immediately feeling the world shift disconcertingly. He cursed as he slumped back against the bar.

It was then that the DJ's booming voice resounded over the hard pumping rap beats blaring over the speakers. "Where my party people at? Let me hear a HELL YEAH!"

"HELL YEAH!" Everyone in crowd cheered, some of the men pumping their fists in the air.

"Hell yussshhh!" Kuu, infected by the crowd's energy, pumped a fist as well, his feet beginning to glide easily with the music.

Kai looked at him with incredulous eyes as the normally flighty, soft-spoken Kuu broke it down like an old pro, his footwork impeccable. The people at the bar raised their glasses and cheered for the young idol as he winked back at them.

"Then let's get this damn thang started!" The DJ shouted back.

The rocket above their heads began to smoke as the strobe lights from its launchers flooded the dance floor. The sound effects for a space shuttle launch played in the background as a new song began.

It was Katy Perry's E.T. A song that matched perfectly with the club's space age motif.

"I love this SONG!" Kuu cheered, about to drag Kai to dance floor when suddenly, people began to part like the Red Sea, still dancing, but had their attention held rapt by something obscured from the boys' vision.

"So does someone else it seems..." Came a droll voice from behind them and they both turned to see Azusa leaning against the bar next to them, taking a long drag from a cigarette and exhaling slowly as his eyes lazily followed the activity on the dance floor.

"Someone-" Kai began, but was cut off by sudden cheers from the crowd as the song entered its first chorus.

Craning his head, he finally caught sight of the cause of all the commotion and his eyes almost popped out of his head.

There, under the flashing lights and bass driven music was Ray, the charismatic Diva herself, dancing.

"Amazing..." Kuu breathed, mirroring Kai's thoughts as they watched her.

As she danced to the music her body appeared to become one with it. The Diva seemed barely aware of her surroundings as she moved fearlessly, almost recklessly but with purpose in her step. Grace and raw passion permeated each movement and Kai couldn't help but stare at her. But then again, neither could any of the other dancers, -male or female- who'd gone still to watch her, enthralled.

He once again found himself watching her helplessly. The way her skin shimmered with sweat under the strobe lights while her body undulated provocatively with the rhythm of the music, almost seeming to float as smoke flooded the dance floor.

'Stopstaringstopstaring...' He chanted the mantra in his mind as he tore his eyes downwards. However, almost as soon as his eyes caught the floor the music reached a powerful crescendo and he instinctively looked up.

'Oh crap...'

It was then that she looked in his direction and their stares connected for the second time that night.

His stomach lurched almost painfully and he bit his lips, his head swimming with the alcohol and strange feelings. She smiled at him and he felt his mouth go dry as she began to mouth the lyrics to the song, hooking a finger towards him in a beckoning gesture. Almost involuntarily, his feet began to move toward her.

Hearing the lyrics she was lip-syncing to, he blushed deeply.

"Kiss me, Ki-Ki-Kiss me..."

Her lips were upturned into a sexy little smile as he approached her, the crowd whispering excitedly among themselves at the sight of the new dancer.

Azusa's gray eyes narrowed at the blonde's back as thick tendrils of smoke wrapped around his face.

Kai's mind became deplete of conscious thought as she grabbed his tie and roughly pulled him towards her. The bass reverberated in his chest as if the song were penetrating him through and through. He welcomed the invasion as the music infused with his body, his senses emancipated as she danced with him, their bodies moving in perfect symbiosis.

The crowd stared at them, slack jawed and Ray seemed to be drinking in the attention. She was hopelessly inebriated and was now riding a physical and emotional high as she watched the blonde dance. His movements were raw, aggressive but had a certain almost animalistic grace and confidence that held her spellbound... Just like that day he performed on stage.

Kiss me, Ki-Ki-

As the last bars of the song began to play, Ray listened to it with interest as a mischievous grin played across her lips. She suddenly yanked his tie and drew his body into her, their faces literally inches apart.

Kai gulped, his eyes widening like a deer in the headlights.

"Kiss me..." She sang, the notes of her voice falling like silk on his ears.

He blinked at her and his heart suddenly jumped into his throat as he saw her leaning towards him. He needed to move; needed to escape... He could feel her breath tickling his lips, could hear his blood thundering in his ears.

But then, just as suddenly as the song began it ended and Kai snapped out of it. He attempted to pull back, but instead of letting him go, she once again drew him up by his tie and then...

Playfully pecked his nose.

The blonde stilled his struggles at the tiny little kiss, his body heating up unbearably. He opened his mouth to protest but no words were forthcoming.

"Still mad at me...?" She giggled, and Kai could tell right away that she was tanked.

"I think it's time to go home Miss Diva." He said, his voice a bit shaken as he finally pulled away from her.

"Buh I dun wannaaa..." She whined and he winced in response, not used to seeing the usually graceful woman so...

Drunk.

"Well, well, well, small world isn't it?" Came a drawling voice from behind them. Kai blinked and looked over his shoulder, catching sight of Azusa.

"Oh hey Azusa... Have you met-"

"Ray? Oh of course, we're long time friends aren't we...?" He said, flashing her a rakish, toothy grin.

Ray froze at the sight of him. Her mouth opening, then closing.

"I..." She said, her voice so soft that it was barely audible.

Azusa suddenly brushed past Kai, grabbing the Diva's wrist and pulling her towards him. She gasped, looking away from him as her chest clenched painfully. He smirked at her reaction and bent his head to her ear.

"Say it..." He whispered, his breath blowing gently over her skin. "That I'm a cheater, a rogue, that I go through women like water, say that you hate me..."

Shadows played over his gray depths, almost turning them to black as a glare wrinkled the corner of his eyes. It wasn't fair that they only made him better looking instead of haggard.

"You can't say it can you...?" He purred, taking his free hand and stroking her hair. "So then that means..." He gasped sardonically, making her wince slightly as his voice fell into a husky whisper that sent mutinous shivers down her back. "... The big bad Diva still loves me?"

"Screw you Azusa..." She said, her voice barely audible as she glared at him halfheartedly. The bravado however, was fleeting at best and she could feel the last vestiges of her courage starting to flee her as she watched his smug expression turn dark.

Ray stared at him, feeling her heart thump as heat rose to her cheeks. Her stomach churned and her wrist started to ache from the unbearably tight grip he still had on it. She tried to act like she wasn't intimidated, refused to flinch even when he leaned so close that he could have kissed her if he wanted. She could smell him, count the number of his eyelashes and see how his gray eyes stormed with a familiar, terrifying anger.

Kai could see fear written on the Diva's face as the man talked to her and then suddenly put two and two together.

"Azusa, that's enough!" He growled, anger flashing like fire inside him. "Let go of her. Now." He must have been the one she was talking to on the phone that day on the roof!

"And who are you to talk?" Azusa snapped back, not taking his eyes off of Ray as she wilted beneath his gaze, defeated. "Ray, let's go, I think we're overdue for a nice long chat."

"Azusa... I-" She began, but before she could say any more Kai suddenly cut in between them, protective instincts on overdrive.

"Get. The fuck. Away from her." Kai snarled as Ray stared into his back in surprise.

"Oh-ho... So kitty has claws." Azusa chuckled derisively. "You sure you wanna piss someone like me off...?"

"Oh I'll do more than piss you off..." Kai said, his voice low and dark.

"Like I said before... Who the hell are you to speak for her?" Asuza leveled a cold gaze down at the enraged blonde.

Without thinking Kai blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"Her boyfriend! I'm her boyfriend..." His voice trailed off slightly at the end, as if he couldn't believe what he just said.

The crowd began to whisper among themselves excitedly and a few whipped out their cell phones and started to take pictures. Kai began to sweat bullets at that... Why did he have to go and open his big stupid mouth?

"You don't sound too sure about that..." Azusa said, his voice mockingly skeptical as he looked over the blonde's shoulder into Ray shocked face. "Ray... I guess you uh... Changed your preferences?"

Ray flushed deeply, looking around at the cameras fearfully as she realized that the man was out for blood... And was now proceeding to try and publicly humiliate her.

Kai mulled over what Azusa said for a couple seconds and then promptly glared at the man. He was trying to imply that Ray had become a lesbian! And that Kai was a girl! (Which was true... But still.)

"Hey screw you brother, at least I ain't built like a friggin' ballerina!" Kai's hackles rose, sure he was a girl at heart but even he didn't appreciate having his new-found manhood insulted.

Azusa laughed inwardly as he bent down to whisper in Kai's ear. "Oh you didn't know about your own girlfriend's personal tastes...?" The man was having fun playing this little cat and mouse game, and Kai was proving to be an exceptionally entertaining new toy. "Tsk Tsk..."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kai snarled, his face set into a dark glare. What the hell kind of personal taste was he talking about?

"I'll give you a hint, I'm her ex..." Still whispering, Azusa let his voice raise about two octaves higher, still fairly deep, but undeniably...

Feminine.

Kai's eyes went wide. Azusa was a girl? That meant that... Oh dear god was Ray an... He couldn't even bring himself to think it as he attempted to keep his eyes leveled on Azusa's face. How could he not have known? The man's face was pretty, far too pretty... And he lacked an Adam's apple.

He couldn't bring himself to look back at Ray, suddenly feeling cornered.

Ray looked at Azusa's coldly smug expression and then down at Kai. His shoulders were shaking... The reality of the situation began to play in her mind and she realized that the two knew each other and so in effect, Kai had to have known who Azusa was before he had even stepped into their argument. And so, even armed with the knowledge that the man was a power to be reckoned with in the music industry, Kai, a newbie just starting his career, put himself out on the line for her... An act like that took either a lot of courage, or a great deal of stupidity.

The implications of Azusa's declaration had been true. Ray liked girls, she had never, ever been in a long term relationship with a man in her life. That was why her career had always stayed relatively scandal (and relationship) free.

But still, seeing him standing there, trying to protect her... She suddenly found the courage within her to return Azusa's smug smile.

A flicker of confusion ran over Azusa's eyes that was quickly replaced by an expression of utter shock as the Diva all at once stepped forward, grabbed the boy's face and claimed his lips in a soft, passionate kiss.

A roar of excitement rippled through the crowd and cell phone cameras flashed furiously around them as their lips connected.

Kuu fought his way through the multitudes of people until he finally found a place to see what was going on. The scene that he came upon made his jaw fall to the floor.

"What... the hell..."

Which were exactly the last words that ran through Kai's mind before his thought processes began to shut down.

TBC (Ahahahaha...)


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Sorry for the long hiatus. Was a terrible semester. Will work on crackin' the whip on this story and churning out more chapters. Thanks for continuing to read. =)

**Mendol: A Man's World Ch 10**

Riku sighed wearily, leaning against the railing as the wind tousled his hair. Coming outside had been the best idea he'd had all night. The balcony wasn't exactly the most private area to be in but it was sparsely populated and the slight chill present in the early autumn air warded away the cloying smells of smoke and debauchery that filled the interior of the club.

"This is nice..." He mused to himself, closing his eyes as his jangled nerves finally began to settle somewhat.

It was then that it clearly struck him the utter ridiculousness of the situation he found himself in. He could never see his family again if he stayed this way... And if his mother knew just how close her precious daughter had come to death...

He clenched his jaw, feeling his chest tighten painfully. He missed them... So much. The pain was almost physical as it occurred to him that as of now, he had no home, no family to return to, and was at the mercy of an inhuman beast. It was that same mercy that had spared his life, but had Inuyama really saved him? After all, what kind of life was this?

His eyes darted to the street below but he shook his head furiously. No... That was a coward's way out. And if his family wasn't already hurt by his absence well that would simply cement their pain.

These humbling thoughts swam around his booze addled mind in dizzying circles until he heard heavy footsteps come from behind him.

"... Take it the VIP section isn't really your scene huh?"

Katusyuki's voice was playful as he came up beside him and leaned back against the railing.

Riku rolled his eyes, though inwardly thankful that the man's sudden presence had startled away the dark thoughts he had been having.

"Is it really that obvious?"

Katsuyuki laughed and clapped him smartly on the shoulder. Riku couldn't help but give an exasperated little smile at his exuberance.

"Don't worry I get it... You have a girl at home huh? I've been there, done that, but when you're on the road it's okay to sow your wild oats every now and then you know?"

Riku didn't reply, he simply shrugged and turned his face downwards. Katsuyuki could believe what he wanted...

The copper haired man noted his companion's silence and chuckled a bit more, taking a swig from a bottle of whiskey he had brought along before offering it to Riku.

Riku inwardly cringed at the sight of it, feeling as though he'd had enough alcohol to last the rest of his life...

"C'mon dude, don't be a pussy." Katsyuki's smile was positively feline as he wiggled the bottle playfully.

Riku glowered a bit at his vulgar language, feeling annoyance at the universe for the fact that the taunt was actually affecting him.

"I will if you quit being a dick..." He grumbled, Katsuyuki grinning crookedly at him in response.

Despite his better judgment he took the proffered bottle and brought it to his lips, fighting his gag reflex as he took a generous gulp and felt the liquid burn hotly in his chest.

"Whoa there cowboy... Take it easy, I'm not gonna carry you out of here."

Katsuyuki's voice belied no real concern and actually sounded a bit impressed.

"... So."

Riku coughed suddenly, feeling the bitter taste of the alcohol still thick on his tongue and throat. He hit his chest repeatedly with a fist as he took a minute to catch his breath.

"So...?" Katsuyuki eyed him with calm interest, a half-cocked smile twisting his lips.

"Thash... was definitely not... one... of... The brightishh... ideas I've ever had..."

Wobbling slightly on his feet, Riku suddenly grabbed on to the man's shoulder to maintain his balance as the world began to move and sway of its own accord behind his eyes.

The director stiffened at the sudden contact and instinctively brought a steadying hand to the man's bicep. His eyes immediately widened at the sheer thickness of the muscles that flexed under his fingertips.

'What the...?'

Katsuyuki's face skewed into a grimace of confusion as heat began to travel up his neck. Horrifyingly, the director had found himself woefully fascinated by the strength latent within thoroughly masculine muscles that felt taut and defined even through the material of the other man's jacket.

'Shit.'

He needed to focus on something else, quickly. And so he jerked his head up and focused on the first exterior thing of interest.

'Holy fucking fuck... I know this isn't happening... '

His stomach twisted uncomfortably as his gaze caught and held Riku's face. The idol's eyes were dark and his lips full, his expression touched with concern and slight confusion. In response the director felt like bashing his head into a wall to knock some sense into himself. Why the HELL was he getting so worked up over a GUY? Disgusting! He'd had some of the most beautiful women in the world grace his bed, he didn't need this bullshit.

"Kaaaa-Tsu-Yu-Ki-saaann... Are you sick? You're red as a tomato!"

Riku slurred, feeling the alcohol beat down the walls of his inhibitions as he leaned provocatively into the other man's personal space to take in the reddish pallor of his skin.

Feeling like he was about to jump out of his own skin the director gulped heavily, his mouth suddenly becoming as dry as the Kalahari desert.

"You... You are so weird!" Katsuyuki blurted out, awkwardly disengaging himself from Riku and taking a step back.

Riku blinked owlishly. "Weird?"

Clearing his throat, Katsuyuki did his best to regain his usual suave demeanor as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Well... Yeah! I mean..."

He was grasping for straws here, but stubbornly plowed ahead nonetheless.

"When I take people here and do these things for them, they usually do whatever I want. People are predictable like that... But you guys are different."

Riku giggled a bit. An odd sound coming from someone as mature and formidable as Persona's front man.

"That's because not only are we men amongst men, but we may well be gentlemen among pigs."

He blew an errant strand of hair out of his face, not noticing as the director's eyes followed the movement.

"Pigs?" Katsuyuki echoed.

"I've come to find that men are usually pigs for a reason... Something made them want to act that way..."

Riku commented, his expression drunkenly thoughtful.

"It gives them a back story, makes them human and interesting... And yet they're still men, and they're still idiots."

"Speak for yerself brother," Katsuyuki grumbled, finally starting to feel his heart calming itself as he looked down at his patent leather shoes.

They really were exquisitely crafted... Imports from Italy.

'Exquisitely expensive as well.' He noted sardonically.

After a few moments his eyes slowly meandered from the supple dark brown cowhide over to the reflective black material of Riku's shoes. Also finely made. So far if there was anything that could be said about the young man it would be that he had impeccable taste in fashion. In fact, as the director's gaze traveled upward he came to appreciate how well suited the man's custom tailored Burberry slacks were to his long legs, and how they fit so snugly around his-

"Gaahhh!" Katsuyuki slapped a hand to his face and shook his head furiously.

Riku stepped closer to him, nudging against the other man's shoulder as concern filled his large brown eyes. Perhaps he had offended the director?

Heavan forbid.

"Are you okay?"

The director almost yelped at the sudden proximity and instinctively shot out his hands to push the younger man out of his personal space.

But instead of shoving Riku, his palms instead came to rest flat on the idol's prominent chest.

Riku raised an eyebrow.

Panicking and not knowing what to say, Katsuyuki blurted the first thing that came to mind.

"Wow, you have a really firm chest. Hit the gym enough and your pecs could be almost as impressive as mine!"

Riku blinked once as he felt the man's hands pat his chest, then twice as he heard the comment attached to the sensation. Years of girlish instinct drove his following reaction.

"You... PERVERT!"

He shoved the director onto the ground as he burst past him, his face fiery red.

Katsuyuki looked at the man's back with a stunned expression. For once in his life, he was at a loss for words. Possibly one of the manliest men he had ever met had just squealed and ran away like a girl catching a peeping tom in a locker room.

Ray closed her eyes, feeling abject shame and guilt pulsating in her gut as she kissed the very breath from Kai's lungs. She could feel all the eyes in the room watching them but only really cared for the pair that was currently boring searing holes into her soul.

'... I'm so sorry...'

The sting of imminent tears burned hotly behind her eyelids. This one act felt like a betrayal of everything she was, a betrayal of the only person she had ever given her heart to. But just as she was about to give into her despair, she felt a pair of gentle hands cup her cheeks.

'Huh?'

Opening her eyes, she felt her heart jump as she beheld Kai's warm brown orbs regarding her with inscrutable emotion latent in their depths. With an unsure but gentle touch he used his thumb to brush away a stray tear that she realized with shock and shame she had let slip through.

How could she succumb to her emotions so recklessly? She wanted desperately to pull away but felt her will disintegrate into shock when he suddenly began to reciprocate the kiss.

The sensation was foreign and she shivered in discomfort as she felt the stubble on his chin brush against her cheek. She had never kissed a man before, neither had she ever wanted to. But to her surprise his lips were soft and pliant, moving against her mouth gently and in a way that told of inexperience laced with an odd overtone of sincerity.

Her heart stirred and fluttered; color rising to her cheeks as his hands moved downwards to hold her arms as if to keep them both from falling. Never before had someone touched her this way, as if she might break if he did otherwise.

Distantly, she heard the cheering of the crowd but at this point did not care. A maelstrom of strange and confusing emotion swirled violently within her and she felt helpless and weak against the rising swells. She barely knew him, and yet she felt an odd, involuntary connection with the small blond-haired man.

But just as her lips began to reciprocate his actions she was suddenly yanked backwards.

"Oh HELL NO! I'm gone for five minutes to go use the ladies room and I come out to find you sucking face with PICHU?" Mariko growled, having finally reached the source of the commotion and effectively ending it.

"I... Wha... Huh?"

Ray looked at her with eyes clouded with confusion and other emotions Mariko deigned not to think about.

"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me Ray... I know you wanted to end it with the bastard but-"

"Azusa?" Ray supplied, looking around with an odd mix of fear and hope. To her relief, but also a modicum of disappointment, the woman was gone.

"Dear god what have I done..." She muttered, holding her head as she looked around for Kai. The small man, unsurprisingly, was gone as well. "Where did he go?"

Kai yelped as his body collided violently with the concrete wall. Pain flashed behind his eyes as he slid into a crumpled heap to the floor. Before he could even catch his breath the two enormous men who had dragged him up here picked him up and held his arms as he thrashed violently against them.

"What the FUCK? Let me go or I swear to everything good and holy that I will cut you open and STRANGLE YOU WITH YOUR OWN INTESTINES!"

He howled, glaring at them as his muscles strained against the men in a futile effort to escape. They had taken him to the roof of the building almost as soon as Ray had been taken away.

Suddenly, the sound of clapping cut through his violent tirade and he looked up to find Azusa walking towards him with a cool smile twisting her handsome features.

"That was quite a performance you put on little rabbit."

She remarked, her voice now a deep, lilting contralto. Obviously these thugs holding him in place knew her secret.

"I must say that you sir, are a rather ungrateful guest."

Kai's flashing brown eyes met Azusa's steely, emotionless gray as the young idol spat at the woman's feet.

"Fuck off. Why don't you just leave her alone already? Isn't obvious that she hates your guts?"

She simply sighed and tutted a bit as if she were about to discipline a petulant child.

"And I did hope that this would be a rather simple chat..."

Suddenly, Kai felt the breath knocked violently out of his lungs as Azusa delivered a powerful punch to his stomach. Bile rose to the back his throat as he hunched over, his mouth opening as pain resonated throughout his body.

"... I love her, pure and simple. And nothing or no one is going to get in the way of that."

Azusa chuckled, brushing off her suit as she straightened and turned around.

Kai, still shell shocked in his pain, was at a loss for words as he watched the woman suddenly whirl around and cannon her fist into his face. The blow connected to his jaw with a sickening crunch.

"You aim to be successful in this industry correct?"

Azusa purred, delicately wiping the blood from her knuckles as Kai's head hung limply forward, his bangs shielding his eyes as he breathed raggedly. Shooting out a hand, she grabbed his chin and held it inches from her face.

"Then you really don't want to make an enemy out of me boy... So do yourself a favor and stay the fuck away. And trust me when I say you're not her 'type.'"

Her voice was soft yet had an edge that could cut a stand of hair in half.

"Boys, I think he's had enough. Drop him." Asusa said flippantly, waving a careless hand in the air as she began to walk away. Kai slid bonelessly to his knees as the bodyguards let him go, flanking their boss as she made her exit.

"Heh... You really are a crazy psycho aren't you?"

Her eyes widened and she whipped her head over her shoulder to see Kai, his bangs still hiding his eyes as a grin twisted his lips. She could see blood dribbling down his chin as he spat a tooth into his hand. He growled at the sight of it and lifted his gaze to fix her with a murderous glare.

"She doesn't need your bullshit... Just the other day I found her crying her eyes out at work because of you. Do you really think she needs that kind of pain? Are you comfortable knowing that you make her miserable?"

He bit out the words like venom at her back as Azusa snorted derisively and continued on her way out.

"You have no idea how much she loves me..."

And those were the last words Kai heard as walls of black began to close in on him and he slumped to the floor.

**End Ch 10**

**A/N:** w00t.


End file.
